“Oil, ethanol, land and water have produced a moment of Brazilian alchemy. Energy is the country’s new brand.”

Roger Cohen, senior IHT-columnist, wants his readers to leave their treadmills of thinking, of judging and of making decisions in a world of changed energy-supply and -demand.

He is fascinated by the Brazilian way of economic development as well as by the multiple use of sugarcane.

Sugarcane is not a staple. It’s eight times more productive than corn. It grows year round. It must be processed fast, so CO2-spewing transport to distant ethanol plants is impossible (unlike for corn).

Its leftover biomass can be used to produce electricity, enough, by some estimates, to provide a third of Brazil’s power needs by 2030. Ethanol already accounts for about 50 percent of car fuel in Brazil. The vast extent of unused arable land - only 16 percent is cultivated - offers enormous scope. At $40 per barrel-of-oil-equivalent in Brazil, sugarcane ethanol makes strategic and economic sense.

His advice to the US-economy: Cease producing ethanol out of corn, import such out of sugarcane, namely from Brazil.

Read the full column by Roger Cohen (International Herald Tribune)

More readings:

Brazil finally poised to step up as global economic player
by Alexei Barrioneuvo (International Herald Tribune)

As the United States and parts of Europe struggle with slowing economies and the fallout from housing crises, the Brazilian economy shows few of the vulnerabilities of other emerging powers.

It has greatly diversified its industrial base, has the potential to expand its booming agricultural sector into virgin fields, and holds a tremendous pool of untapped natural resources. New oil discoveries will thrust Brazil into the ranks of the global oil powers within the next decade.

Yet while exports of commodities like oil and agricultural goods have driven much of its recent growth, Brazil is less and less dependent on them, economists say, having the advantage of a huge domestic market - 185 million people

Two more critical aspects of this lasting development ought to be mentioned:

Sustainability as a smokescreen (Friends of Earth Europe)

Ethanol Production Could Be Eco-Disaster, Brazil’s Critics Say (National Geographic)

Sudan Wants Partnership with Brazil in Oil, Agriculture and Aviation (brazzilmag.com)

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