Something else non-election

[928ram]

Alternative fuels.

I was reading a column in the local paper today about how Brazil
is converting sugar cane to methanol for auto fuel use. The article was short on actual technical details but a couple points I found interesting:
Sugar cane is a rapidly growing "grass" that produces more ethanol per pound than such crops as corn and can be easily grown here in the US (and the sugar industry is still subsidized AFAIK)
Brazil's 2 main reason for going ethanol were given as "They did not want to be subject to the price fluctuations and instability of competing for oil with other countries like the US (and now China). Secondly, they wanted to create jobs in Brazil and keep the money in Brazil to help in the balance of trade."

So.. with oil price likely to continue to increase with global demand, at what point do the economics start running in favor of such a situation in any country which now depends on foriegn oil?
Using this a single example; sure the cost per unit is likely higher along with costs involved in implementing the infrastructure (surely large cities would be 1st, where use would also payoff 1st), but at what point does the jobs/trade equation pay off? I see alot of arguements for alternative fuels reducing dependancy on foriegn oil, but few of them touch on the trade/job/economic impact of producing at home.

[ErVikingo]

Not sure about the economies of this. Good idea IMHO if it can be made to work.

In Brasil (proper spelling by the way!) the exahust of some cars smells sweet. We used to joke that they had used Cachaca (their "rum") in their tanks which its not too far from truth.

I have not been up to speed recently on ethanol or methanol for auto use. I was part of a project to extract methanol from bio waste. Nice project, good green results, lost my shirt on it. Our plant is still energy self sufficient (after 15 years running). We were getting paid to remove the scrap from rum refining, fish processing and chicken packing plants.

The most expensive and cumbersome part was liquifying the methane gas. Never ran my 911 on it but, the power plants ran just fine.

Household waste is full of energy potential, the problem is getting it all Ok'd by the likes of Greenpeace and such. I'd rather burn trash for electrical generation than bunker (fuel oil).

[ErVikingo]

BTW, one of the original ideas of CART racing was to "fuel" (pun intended!) the development of alcohol fueled vehicle engines.