6.6b biofuels in Brazil

Question 1

what are biofuels

Answer 1

biofuel is energy made from living matter, using plants e.g. biodiesel and biogas are types of biofuels

Question 2

biofuels in Brazil

Answer 2

• Brazil is the biggest producer of ethanol from sugar cane (sugar cane has been grown in Brazil for nearly 500 years)
• in the 2000s cars were built to use various mixtures of fuel –> 90% of new passenger vehicles sold in Brazil contain flex-fuel engines that work using any combination of petrol and sugarcane ethanol
  6 million flex vehicles and 3 million others can run on ethanol!!!!
• ethanol struggled to compete when the government reduced taxes on fossil fuels to control inflation so in 2015 the government raised the min. amount of ethanol in the fuel mix to 27% and removed petrol subsidies

Question 3

benefits

Answer 3

sugar cane produces 8 - 10 times more energy than the inputs to grow it and reduces carbon gases by 90%

Question 4

costs

Answer 4

• extensive areas of Africa are suitable for ethanol/ biodiesel crops but the land is needed for food crops and water
• sugar cane production is concentrated in the central southern region –> displacement of cattle pasture etc.
  = indirect deforestation
• in 2014, 33 million acres of land in Brazil was used to grow sugarcane for ethanol instead of food AND nearly 1/3rd of Brazil faces food insecurity

Question 5

consumption of ethanol in Brazil

Answer 5

2016 –> 30 billion litres

exported 1.35 million litres –> mainly to the USA and South Korea