U.S., Brazil to launch ethanol offensive in Latin America

[arcos]

U.S., Brazil to launch ethanol offensive in Latin America

WASHINGTON - Move over, free trade. The Bush administration has a new theme to court Latin American nations: ethanol.

In the coming months, Washington will roll out a strategic partnership with Brazil to expand ethanol and other biofuels use in the hemisphere. U.S. officials are hoping not only to bolster energy security and generate more rural jobs for poor countries, but also to foster goodwill toward the United States, according to several people familiar with the plan.

There's talk that the Brazil deal could also blunt the influence that Venezuela's Bush-bashing president, Hugo Chavez, exerts in the region by creating alternate fuels to Venezuela's oil. U.S. officials, however, said that the arrangement would have happened regardless of Chavez.

"The United States and Brazil are the world's two largest biofuels producers, so cooperation is natural," said Eric Watnik, a State Department spokesman. "Our goal is to advance global energy security by helping countries diversify their supply."

<snip>

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16609352.htm

[gorbal]

1. Hugo dodges Ethanol, reaches for solar panels

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/02/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Chavez-Goes-Green.php

CARACAS, Venezuela: With the zeal of a die-hard environmentalist, President Hugo Chavez plans to invest some of Venezuela's oil wealth in manufacturing solar panels and has begun giving out millions of energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs in homes nationwide.

Though his country survives on oil sales, Chavez is increasingly talking up the environmental cause and urging the world to cut back on oil consumption to prevent climate change.

He says Venezuela can serve as an example, but that remains a lofty ideal for a country where car sales are booming and litter-strewn streets are clouded with exhaust.

Some critics say Chavez's rhetoric frequently goes beyond his actions. But he has been exhorting his followers to drive less and take public transport, while the government plans a windmill farm on the coast and is exploring more uses for clean-burning natural gas.

"Venezuela is one of the countries that least contaminates the environment, but nevertheless we want to give an example and be at the vanguard," Chavez told a news conference Thursday

I was hoping he would do something like that. It takes alot of oil to build solar panels, but then that will save energy in the long run.

[Meshuga]

2. Well, Brazil uses sugar cane

ethanol which uses the sugarcane bagasso to produce the ethanol as opposed to the ethanol produced in the US where lots of oil is used to produce corn ethanol (sort of defeating the purpose). Sugar cane ethanol is much cleaner biofuel to produce. I see Latin America moving towards sugarcane ethanol as a positive move.

Whether this move defies Hugo Chavez or not it's a move that benefits that region.

[Moby Grape]

3. how much oil is used? n/t