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. Clinton said that "everybody" already knows that Brazilian ethanol made from sugar cane is the most efficient biofuel in the world. The problem isn't getting the word out, but potential negative consequences of cutting down more forest in order to plant more crops. "The world would say, if we let Brazil help us solve our problem at the price of more rainforest destruction, have we really gained anything? That's what you have to answer," Clinton said during his speech. Business leaders should see their self-interest in working with the government to help protect the forests, he said, because there are huge political negatives of a cut-and-plant strategy.

[Source: Reuters]
Photo by sskennel. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

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 in early June. Part of Clinton's post-White House life has been running the William J. Clinton Foundation and a part of that is the Clinton Climate Initiative, which finds ways to fund progressive climate change projects in a business-oriented way.

The Ethanol Summit will coincide with this year's Brazil Ethanol Trade Show. BETS is trade show that will showcase biofuel industry technology in the world's most advanced ethanol country; this will be the first year for the show.

[Source: Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA)]
Photo by sskennel. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

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 the Nissan Versa which is sold in Brazil as the Tiida. The Tiida FFV uses the same 1.8-liter four cylinder that's in the U.S.-market Versa with a new fuel system. The FFV engine is rated at 125 hp on gasoline and 126 hp on ethanol. The 9.9:1 compression ratio remains unchanged and doesn't do anything to take advantage of the higher octane rating of the alcohol fuel. Some other manufacturers bump their alcohol engines up as high as 15:1 to get more power and efficiency. As a result, the mileage of the FFV Tiida is rated at a mediocre 16.5 mpg (U.S.) in the city and 22.6 mpg (U.S.) on the highway.

[Source: Motortips.blogspot.com]

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 option. The same engine can also be used in other models, so we're likely to see more flex-fuel Nissans soon. The Livina is one of Nissan's "global" cars and is a close relative to the Nissan Tiida/Versa that is also sold in South Africa, China and Indonesia. The car is built in São José dos Pinhais, Paraná, a plant where Brazilian Renaults are also manufactured. Obrigado to Gustavo for the tip.


[Source: Nisssan Brazil via Motortips]

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 biodiesel plant alongside the country's largest refinery in Tarragona. This leaves Brazil with just one relatively large oil company, Portugal's Galp, to distribute its biodiesel in the Old Continent. So, what about France, Europe's fourth largest biodiesel market? Brazil announced it would purchase French nuclear techology in exchange for, well, biodiesel. But France's largest oil company, Total, already produces enough for domestic needs. Perhaps Brazil should focus on the home market: Brazil will soon increase its own mandatory biodiesel blend to 4 percent (B4). The current blend is B3, and that was raised just a few months ago.

[Source: Econoticias / Econoticias]

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 American country helped fuel the recent world-wide ethanol boom. Using the spring 2007 meeting of US President Bush and Brazilian President da Silva as a starting point, the article dissects how Brazil's 30+ year sugar cane ethanol project helped get the biofuel onto the international stage and how the US can now learn from that experiment. Looking toward the future, author Vanessa Cordonnier, an Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Bureau of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, examines "whether a similar program in the U.S. would be in the best interests of the nation and the environment." What do you think?

If you're interested, you can check out the 30-page report in PDF. Thanks to the magazine's editor-in-chief, David Sella-Villa, for the tip!

[Source: William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review]

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 local version of the Fiat 127 (also the Seat 127) that was called the Fiat 147. The 147 was developed in Brazil in 1976 right as the oil crisis hit and the country was seeking solutions from the biofuel. Fiat finally launched the ethanol version of the 147 in 1979 after three years of testing. The 147 used a 1.3-liter 60hp powertrain, but the compression ratio was reduced to 10.65:1 so it could run on ethanol. Despite the 30 percent fuel increase, the car had better performance figures than the gasoline version and became a hit. This car was also released in a diesel version. Enjoy a couple of videos of the 147 after the jump. Muito obrigado, Pedro!

[Source: Best Cars Web Site]

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 idea and has unveiled a new model for the Brazilian market: the Xsara Picasso compact minivan, which is going to get the green label of "Eco" (not Airdream as in Europe). What's the Xsara Picasso got going for it? A flex-fuel engine, like the Brazilian BlueMotions, but mated to a Stop/Start system. A good side benefit of the Start/Stop system is that flex-fuel models won't need an additional gasoline reservoir for cold starts. Citroën claims that the latter system itself cuts fuel use by 8 percent, which "adds to the benefits of using ethanol at the pump."

[Source: Citroën Brazil via Le Blog Auto]

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 option for the Fox (pictured above), Gol and Polo models. Not much information has been released yet, although the models are currently being shown at the São Paulo Motor Show. We know that the Brazilian Polo BlueMotion will be powered by a flex-fuel 1.6-liter engine mated to a new gearbox with longer gear ratios. As usual, some additional tweaks are included in the pack, such as a closed front grille and underside, lowered suspension and low-rolling resistance tires mated to 14-inch wheels. The Polo is expected to be on sale by the end of the year but the BlueMotion versions of the Gol and the Fox probably won't be ready until later in 2009

[Source: Autoblog en Español]

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 April 2009, Brazilian buyers can choose the little city runner. Mercedes-Benz announced that Brazil will be the latest country to get the fortwo, which is now available in 37 markets around the world. Not bad for a tiny car that certainly wasn't guaranteed success when it was introduced in 1998. In Brazil, smart Head of Brand Management Anders-Sundt Jensen says, the small size will be a hit in the crowded urban centers, starting with São Paulo. The Daimler press release (pasted after the jump) says that about 1,000 new vehicles are registered in São Paulo every day. Yes, every day. With 10 million people and only (ha ha) six million cars, there's a lot of people who could be driving but aren't. I'm not saying they all should - far from it - I'm just saying that if they must drive, a car that's only 2.5 meters long is a lot better than the bigger alternatives.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]