Ethanol Cars

As people become more concerned with the environment and as gasoline prices continue to increase ethanol cars are becoming a popular choice. Both Brazil and the Midwest of the USA have implemented legislation to embrace ethanol cars.

In Brazil “flex fuel” cars are now used. These cars can run solely on ethanol, gasoline or a combination of both. The “flex fuel”  vehicle first introduced into Brazil by Volkswagen in 2003 gave consumers the autonomy to buy the cheapest fuel, freeing them from any potential shortages in ethanol supply. The Brazilian government introduced a “Pro-Alcohol” program back in 1975, after the first major global energy crisis. By the mid eighties, of the 800,000 cars in Brazil more than three quarters could run on ethanol.

The savings from the “Pro-Alcohol” program for the Brazilian population have been substantial.  Ethanol fuel now costs the consumer about half of the cost of the same amount of petroleum based fuel. Estimates indicate that if the USA adopted a similar program to that in Brazil then savings of up to $2 trillion dollars per year are very possible.

Ethanol cars are also great for the environment. For starters they are cleaner burning and therefore produce less air pollution. Ethanol is typically produced from crops such as barley, sugarcane, wheat and corn, all renewable resources, so there is no need to deplete the Earth of its valuable natural resources and damage the planet via mining. The process for producing ethanol is also a safe natural fermentation and distillation process similar to that of making alcoholic beverages.