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Ethanol Summit 2009 finds consensus on ethanol certification
The Brazilian city of São Paulo hosted this year's edition of the Ethanol Summit. Opened by former President Clinton, one of the main issues this year was how to certify sustainable ethanol. You know the story: The EU wants to burn more ethanol in order to curb greenhouse emissions and is committed to use 10 percent biofuels. When demand exceeds local production, EU companies use imports, requesting that the imported fuel is made using certified sustainable sources. However, many organizations state that some ethanol producers don't use ... Read more →
Bill Clinton: don't destroy the forest to make ethanol Sebastian Blanco
During the big Ethanol Summit 2009 down in Brazil this week, former President Clinton gave a bit of advice to that country's ethanol industry: don't destroy so much forest land just to make biofuel. ...
President Clinton headed to Ethanol Summit 2009 Sebastian Blanco
The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) has snagged former U.S. President Bill Clinton to be a speaker at the upcoming Ethanol Summit 2009. The Summit takes place in Sao Paulo, Brazil ...
VIDEO: 60 Minutes challenges Chevron on Ecuador oil mess Domenick Yoney
Chevron, America's third largest company, may be asked to pay up to $27 billion in damages in a lawsuit arising from oil-drilling related pollution in an Ecuadorian portion of the Amazon rain forest. ...
VIDEO: $6,500 Salamandra Lexion launches in Colombia Domenick Yoney
Billed as the most affordable ecological vehicle in the world, the wraps came off the $6,500 Salamandra Lexion earlier this month to reveal the three-wheeled wonder you see pictured above. Calling ...
More south-latin-america news
Nissan adds flex-fuel version of the Versa ... in Brazil 2 months ago on AutoblogGreen
In Brazil, ethanol tends to be the fuel of choice over gasoline thanks to favorable pricing and the local sugar cane feedstock. As a result most of the cars available there are offered in flex fuel variants that aren't for sale anywhere else in the world. Such is the case with the latest edition of ...
Nissan launches first flexfuel model in Brazil 3 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Click on image for a gallery of the Nissan Livina The fact that one of the most important automakers in Brazil didn't offer a flex-fuel vehicle there is quite a surprising fact. Nissan is fixing this by offering the Nissan Livina, a compact 5-seat van (think Mazda5), with a flex-fuel engine ...
Brazilian president asks Obama to lower ethanol tariff 3 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Even though some headlines were dominated by Brazilian economic news, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to the U.S. and his meeting with President Obama over the weekend also dealt with the ethanol industry. The big biofuel news from Silva's visit was a call to end U.S. tariffs on his ...
Honda to sell world's 1st bike with bio-ethanol mixed fuel 3 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Click above for a gallery of the Honda CG150 Titan Mix There are tons of flex-fuel automobiles in the world, both in the United States and abroad. Interestingly, though, before today there weren't any flex-fuel motorcycles in existence. Honda has just rectified that little oversight with its new ...
Brazil having a hard time selling its biodiesel in Europe 3 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Brazil's President Inázio Lula da Silva visited Europe not long ago and he promoted the benefits of Brazilian biodiesel in France and Spain. This might have seemed like a good idea, if it weren't for the fact that Spain's biggest oil company, Repsol, had just frozen the construction of a new ...
Argentina motorbike manufacturer launches CNG bike 4 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Argentina's most important motorbike manufacturer, Zanella, has announced its first factory-installed CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) powered bike. The bike, which is a converted RX150 model, has 150 cc displacement and the conversion adds two tanks of gas for a range of approximately 200 kilometers ...
Bolloré courts Evo Morales and Bolivia's lithium 4 months ago on AutoblogGreen
French industry giant Group Bolloré, which we're familar with for their involvement with Pininfarina in a handful of interesting electric car projects, announced it has contacted Bolivian President Evo Morales to secure a supply of lithium in order to produce advanced batteries. Negotiations ...
Attention Wal-Mart shoppers: Electric cars marked down on aisle 6 4 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Might your next (first?) electric vehicle purchase be transacted at Wal-Mart? It's not out of realm of possibility. Mexican company, GS Motors, is already selling 3 different models from China's First Auto Works (FAW) at a so-called "big box" retail chain in Mexico and has plans to replicate the ...
Brazilian company Maxi-Eco to enter Auto X Prize 5 months ago on AutoblogGreen
When the Automotive X-Prize announced its competition, and especially the $10 million in prize money that goes along with it, we figured that plenty of small, relatively unknown companies would enter the proceedings. They have. The good news is that this is exactly the point of the event – to ...
Got lithium? Lots 5 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Click on chart for PDF When companies need to know about future market conditions for various commodities, they hire a firm with the expertise to evaluate the situation and report back. For instance, as Mitsubishi was mulling the possible future of electric cars equipped with lithium ion ...
Environmental group launches anti-Dakar Rally campaign 5 months ago on AutoblogGreen
This year, the famous Dakar Rally has moved to South America because of security issues in its previous home in Africa. The race usually showcases the latest in all-road racing technology - diesel vehicles are doing well this year - but there's also the question of what is the real environmental ...
How Brazil created the international ethanol boom 5 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Photo by petrr. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. Maybe Americans need to be pointing our fingers south at Brazil for making us spend so much money on ethanol. The William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review has just published an article that delves into how the South ...
New biodiesel from mustard and camelina developed in Chile 6 months ago on AutoblogGreen
The potential to make biofuels from camelina and mustard is well known, and they might be two good choices for additional oil sources to make biodiesel besides jathropa. The University of Concepción, in Chile, along with nearby agricultural conglomerates, have funded research to discover the ...
Peru to stop used cars imports in 2010 6 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Poor countries usually don't have enough resources, and people who earn the median income often can't afford new cars. Instead, they rely on getting used imports. This is the case in Peru, where the government has just authorized importing used cars until 2010. However, this authorization has a ...
A bit of history: Fiat 147, the first mass-produced ethanol car 6 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Today, ethanol is not the most favored solution to oil dependency, but it was not always so frowned upon. Here's a car that deserves a place in the history of ethanol's growth. A Brazilian friend of mine pointed to me to the first mass-produced ethanol car (with the exception of the Ford T): the ...
Nach One finally unleashed on dirt track in Argentina 6 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Back in May, we discovered the Nach One, a lightweight three-seater from Bravo Motor Company in Argentina. Reader Gabriel Y. just sent us some of his pictures of the first test drive of the Nach One that took place this past week. Comparing these images with the original concept design, you can see ...
The state of the ethanol market depends on which hemisphere you're in 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Many of our readers aren't big fans of ethanol. But it made sense to a lot of people when the biofuel was actually cheaper than gasoline. Times have changed, and several fuel retailers in Missouri have stopped blending ethanol with gasoline because it's cheaper to use straight gasoline now and the ...
Nissan selects plant for building subcompact Chryslers 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
As we told you last January, Nissan is going to build a small Versa-based car for Chrysler. We now find news that production is set to start in early 2009 at Nissan's Aguascalientes assembly plant in central Mexico, the same plant where all the North American Versas are built. However, this ...
Metrocable: solar-power assisted cable car as public transportation 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Now that winter is coming, some people are getting ready for cable cars rides at ski resorts. But what if a city used cable cars as for public transportation? Such is the case in Medellín, in Colombia, and its Metrocable system. There are currently two aerial cable car lines which are fully ...
New cheap car coming from Toyota under new brand? 7 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Tata Motors may have some serious competition on its hands if Toyota does indeed enter the low-cost automotive sweepstakes as is currently rumored. Renault's Dacia brand may be the most credible cheap car currently on the market, but this particular segment seems to be booming as emerging markets ...
Another eco option for Brazilians: Citroën Xsara Picasso Eco 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
It seems that it's not just Europeans who are getting green (or blue) labels for virtually every model of the road. We recently reported that Volkswagen has taken the BlueMotion badge to Brazil and that the Smart fortwo is being put on sale there. Well, it looks like Citroën has had the same ...
BlueMotion arrives in Brazil and gets local (ethanol) flavor 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
As you know, blue is the new green, at least marketing-wise. Therefore, Volkswagen has decided to offer the BlueMotion badge in Brazil, albeit adapted to the homegrown fuel from the South American continent: the Brazilian BlueMotion bagde vehicles will be powered by ethanol. BlueMotion will be an ...
Smart due in Brazil's urban centers in April 2009 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
While Brazil still gets its share of ethanol-friendly auto debuts (see: Sand'up, Renault), not every green-leaning vehicle introduced there needs to suck down the sugarcane. Daimler's smart fortwo, for example, gets solid MPG numbers and low CO2 emissions when running on gasoline and, starting in ...
Fiat Brazil shows off all-electric Bugster 8 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Click on image for a couple of images of the Fiat Bugster Fiat's subsidiary in Brazil is going to introduce a new concept car, called the Bugster, for the 25th Salão Internacional do Automóvel, Brazil's Motor Show. It reminds one of those early '70s buggies that were made up from ...
Friends of the Earth, Brazilian sugarcane industry fight it out on ethanol 9 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Photo by Marxchivist. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0. It's been so long (like six months) since there was a nice dispute about the impacts of Brazil's ethanol industry. In the past we've seen questions raised about the workers' conditions and the environmental standards of the ...
GM holds biofuels summit at Detroit Grand Prix 10 months ago on AutoblogGreen
As part of the activities surrounding this past weekend's Detroit Grand Prix, General Motors hosted a panel discussion on biofuels. The panel consisted of GM VP Beth Lowery, Joel Valesco of UNICA (the Brazilian sugar cane industry trade group, Michigan State University Professor Bruce Dale, former ...
Utility to distribute EV cars in Latin America 11 months ago on AutoblogGreen
Endesa, a Spanish-based (Italian-owned) utility company will be soon distributing to its customers in Santiago Chile an EV car. The model, the Reva EV (which we tried in Barcelona last year) hasn't been much of a big seller in most of Europe (40 units in Spain) so the distribution via the own ...
Is sugarcane ethanol still a good alternative? 11 months ago on AutoblogGreen
85 liters of ethanol per each tonne (metric) of sugarcane harvested. This is the output of a standard sugarcane ethanol plant. As we know, 45 percent of Brazilian fuel needs are covered by ethanol. Of course, what once was thought as the easy solution to replace fossil fuels is now being blamed for ...
UNICA says 4th of July is the right time to end ethanol tariffs 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
Fourth of July equals fireworks, parades and, if the Brazilian sugarcane growers - represented by UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association - get their way, a reduced or eliminated ethanol import tariff. UNICA is calling on the U.S. Congress to eliminate the 54-cent tariff on each ...
Volkswagen Brazil announces the refreshed global Gol 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
Brazil's best-selling vehicle just got a complete makeover, but just about all we know of it is the picture you see above. The Volkswagen Gol (not Golf) has sold more than five million units in Brazil and an additional million outside. Built over the PQ24 platform, which is shared with the ...
Buying a new car? That'll be 20 trees, please. 1 year ago on AutoblogGreen
When we mention Brazil, we're usually speaking about their aggressive ethanol (alcoól) policy or their availability of flex-fuel cars. But today we're speaking about a creative proposition: The Brazilian Câmara dos Deputados is discussing a bill which will make planting trees mandatory ...
