I saw the Bloomberg documentary Deadly Brew, the Human Toll of Ethanol, which aired last Thursday and I have to agree with some of the criticisms that UNICA levels at the film. The documentary, which focused on the working conditions of cane cutters in Brazil, gave both sides but seemed to favor the workers a little more than the owners. As you can see in the video above, they do that close up thing to one of the owners, a technique that makes anyone look evil. In the end, whatever they got wrong or one-sided, I am not too concerned with labor conditions of Brazilian ethanol worker. Let me explain.

The documentary starts out by saying most sugar cane in Brazil is cut by hand. At the end however, the documentary says industry projects that will change very soon, up to 80 percent replaced by machines and the remaining 20 percent will run the machines. So, even if there is a problem, cutting by hand is going away. The documentary also mentions there are laws in place, enforcement groups, fines and even unions. The laws are ignored, says the documentary, enforcement lax, fines too low and unions (while numerous) weak on the national level. I don't mean to seem flippant but that's about as good as it gets in the world.

For countries like China, which wants to be a major ethanol exporter, you won't have to use the term virtual slavery when talking about working conditions: It will be slavery! If this were a perfect world, I would agree with EU's interest in trying to change the working conditions around the world. In reality, the best I hope for is some kind of label on the country of origin for ethanol in hopes of shining a light on the problem. We don't know where our food comes from, so I won't hold my breath. What do you think readers: am I wrong to think weak unions and low fines is not a major problem?

Related:

• Brazilian sugarcane industry not happy with "Deadly Brew" documentary
• Bloomberg to air documentary about Brazilian ethanol worker labor conditions

[Source: Bloomberg]

At least as early at April 2007, public officials in New York City were publicly engaged in a discussion about instituting a congestion charge in the Big Apple. Heck, Mayor Bloomberg even had the daily dollar amount picked out: $8. But the plan faltered and we haven't heard much recently. Until now. According to the New York Sun, Bloomberg is "likely to win some sort of "congestion pricing" plan by the spring now that the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, is on board with developing a plan to reduce Manhattan traffic by charging a fee to drivers." So, what will happen?

The details remain unknown, and the Sun says we'll probably have to wait until we approach the March 31 deadline for final approval from the City Council and state Legislature to find out more. That $8 idea? "No chance," says the Sun. That plan was made ultra-confusing by including full rebates for drivers who paid tolls coming into Manhattan (in some cases already $8, in others, $5) and Council members are paying close attention to how the charges will affect their burroughs. This won't be an easy fight, but it smells like something's cooking and will be ready in the spring.

[Source: New York Sun via Winding Road]

Coca-Cola Enterprises plans to add 120 hybrid trucks to its fleet in the US over the next year. The company currently uses two hybrids in the Bronx, NY fleet and plans to add another three to the Bronx fleet in December. Coke's president and CEO, John Brock, and New York Major Michael Bloomberg said a few words at the ceremony introducing the five trucks to the Bronx fleet and NY1 has a short video of the event.

Mayor Bloomberg said, "Sustainable business practices will save businesses money in the long run. That's why we're seeing support for converting the taxi fleet to hybrids, major rental companies like Hertz converting their fleets, and it's why a leader in product distribution like Coca-Cola Enterprises has made this commitment."

Mr. Brock said "Coca-Cola Enterprises has long been responsive to the needs of our local communities, and the expansion of our hybrid-electric fleet in the Bronx demonstrates our commitment to Mayor Bloomberg's call for local industries to be proactive in the search for alternative fuel sources."

According to the press release, Coke did intensive research and design with their suppliers to create the International 4300 truck, with Eaton Hybrid Technology. The truck uses a motor/generator, working with the transmission and a 340 volt battery, to get 32 percent increased fuel efficiency and the trucks can drive on electric power only below 30 MPH. The trucks also saves fuel by not idling at stop lights.

Coke is the largest marketer, distributor, and producer of bottled and canned liquid nonalcoholic refreshment. The Bronx sales center has 90 trucks servicing 8,700 customers in Manhattan and the Bronx, delivering more than 8 million cases of product annually.

What a great early Christmas gift from Coke. I'd like to buy the world a Coke hybrid truck.

Related:

• Wal-Mart receives its first Peterbilt hybrid big rig
• Toyota's Hino Trucks reportedly bringing hybrid trucks to Australia

[Source: Coke press release, NY1]

As Toyota, the king of hybrids, embarks on its ambitious plan of selling 1 million hybrid vehicles worldwide annually before 2015, you have to wonder just how they're going to do it. We've already heard that they eventually plan to offer a hybrid version of all its cars, but will that be enough? How about squeezing more out of the marketability of the Prius nameplate?

Bloomberg is reporting that at SEMA Jim Lentz, executive vice president for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., suggested that the company may expand the model range of the Prius by offering a wagon and a smaller, lighter city-car. He explained this was an option, but the company does not have any plans to do so just yet. The wagon would offer utility to the active American lifestyle while the city-car would conceivably achieve even better gas mileage and make more sense for a younger generation living in densely packed urban areas.

Here's to hoping that a smaller, lighter and hopefully more agile Prius becomes a reality in our near future.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Bloomberg is reporting that they received word from auto industry insiders that GM's yet-to-be-publicly-announced, new, green strategy will include improved gas engines, hybrid pick-ups, fuel cell vehicles and that the centerpiece of the plan will be plug-in hybrids.

The automaker has allegedly compiled a team of engineers that will develop the plug-in hybrid project which has been dubbed "I-car" (for Icon car). Chief executive officer Richard Wagoner is said to have stressed that GM is now fully committed to the hybrid drivetrain and other green technologies in recent meetings. Industry analyst John Casesa says that this is a major shift for the automaker considering its past efforts of going out of their way to criticize the financial viability of hybrids.

Spurred by lost sales to Toyota, GM is planning to invest an undisclosed portion of the $9 billion in savings they realized from cost cutting this year. Toyota has already announced it will be spending a record $7.9 billion on research and development. Last year, GM spent $6.7 billion.

As with nearly all brow-raising news, don't get too excited just yet. Kicking Tires, cars.com's blog, is showing a bit of skepticism in the "I-car" by saying that "these projects often don't come to fruition and we wouldn't be surprised if some other technology or trend came along to divert the research."

[Source: Bloomberg via Kicking Tires]

According to Bloomberg, C. Czarnikow Sugar Ltd. says that Brazil may find it difficult to meet its own ethanol demands for the crop season ending in March. The problem isn't an issue of production capacity. It's because global demand is on the rise and higher prices outside the country are encouraging exports.

If Brazil is indeed in danger of falling short of meeting its domestic ethanol demand, it's likely that more of the country's sugar crop will be diverted into ethanol production. As a result, Brazil may raise the percentage of harvested sugar that is diverted towards fuel from 48 to 49 percent this year.

Unless you're a sugar trader, these facts or figures won't send you into any sort of scare. What does make the article interesting to us, though, is that Brazil is now at a near 50/50 food/fuel balance which is often a sort of mental tipping point. If the trend of ethanol demand continues to rise, the balance will for the first time be shifted towards fuel. Just some food for thought.

[Source: Bloomberg]

One fact is fairly straightforward: Honda is working on a new diesel engine for the U.S. market in 2009 that will meet stringent U.S. and California emissions standards while using 30 percent less gasoline, according to this article from Bloomberg out today.

The delicious part of the news is both the details of the story (Takeo Fukui, who worked on the successful Civic back in 1973, is behind the new engine, the way Honda and Toyota feed of each other to the top of the green automotive world) and the way the story is told (with lots of background and sources like an auto industry consultant at Casesa Shapiro Group LLC in New York and Jon Spallino, whose family you may have seen in advertising materials and who leases the Honda fuel cell prototype). This article is worth your time if you're interested in why Honda and Toyota are doing so darn well selling cars around the world.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Bloomberg News today is reporting that Toyota does not have enough gas-electric hybrid Prius vehicles to meet consumer demand, which must be nice for the company but means a long wait for customers and, for all of us, more carbon dioxide in the air. A Toyota vice-president told Bloomberg that the company could sell 250,000 of the vehicles this year, if they had them in the lots. The company sold about 108,000 last year and sales in April were down about 4,000 units from last year.
An analyst told Bloomberg that what used to be seasonal price spikes are becoming just regular old price spikes and that higher gas prices are driving demand for hybrids. Oh really.

[Source: Mercury News via Mixed Power]