Draft Abstract
The oil crisis of the late 1970s had an effect felt around the world, but while many other countries only temporarily turn their attention away from fossil fuels, Brazil pushed forward to become the global leader in ethanol production methods. Why did Brazil succeed in eliminating its dependence on foreign oil where other nations failed? My paper will focus on the history, development, and future of ethanol production in the country of Brazil and what steps it took to succeed where others failed. The uniquely Brazilian engineering culture will be showcased for its ability to adapt to changing demands from agricultural, energy, and global markets. The feasibility of transferring this technology to other appropriate developing countries will also be discussed.
Annotated Bibliography
1. Ethanol's mid-life crisis. (2010). Economist, 396(8698), 41-42.
The article focuses on Brazil's sugar industry. Sugar is the main crop in this country, which is the biggest exporter in the world. While sugar cane is very valuable, the needs of the market determine if it is used as a source of biomass energy products and biofuels, notably ethanol, or turned directly into sugar. Sugar now also forms the nucleus of a new agro-industrial and renewable-energy complex. Each segment of the sugar industry is asking for government regulation to promote its use. Government officials complain that when the world sugar price is high, the mills divert cane away from producing ethanol, which can make its price rise as well.
This struggle within the industry helps to showcase how the success of new technology or industry can be molded by government attention. For instance, Brazil's government requires petrol to be blended with three or four parts ethanol to one of petrol. This control of the market creates the demand necessary for such a large capital intensive industry to survive in a competitive, and often unfair, market. The United States and Europe do something similar while also placing a tariff on imported ethanol. While Brazil is more efficient at producing ethanol than any other country on Earth, the tariffs placed on each gallon of imported ethanol makes it more expensive than domestic ethanol.
2. Goldemberg, J. (2008). The brazilian biofuels industry.Biotechnology for Biofuels,1(6), 6.
This paper reviews the technological characteristics of ethanol as a fuel, the present 'status' of the ethanol Program in Brazil, the characteristics of ethanol as a renewable fuel, the future perspectives of the ethanol program in Brazil, and discusses the limitations on expansion for the industry. The author is very thorough in his citation of specific statistics with regards to each of these categories. This information will be helpful in analyzing the environmental, political, economic impacts of this technology. In the paper’s discussion of the future of ethanol, the mention of a reliance on first generation technologies as a limiting factor is enlightening. He mentioned the efficiency of sugarcane-to-ethanol production can still be increased through improvements such as TRS (total recoverable sugar), which has increased 1.5% per year in the period 1977–2004. These statistics will help to show how these technologies may be viable if transferred to other countries around the world.
3. REGALADO, A. (2010). Race for cellulosic fuels spurs brazilian research program.Science, 327(5968), 928-929
This article explains the importance of scientific discovery in the global race for ethanol production. The article stresses the importance of efficiency in production technologies. It mentions that Brazil’s sugar-cane based ethanol can be produced for half of what it costs in the United States, where ethanol is made from corn. The article discusses the huge amount of investments the U.S. and Europe are making in next-generation approaches, such as cellulosic ethanol production. Cellulosic ethanol is especially attractive because it can create energy from plant material normally considered waste. Brazil is also investing in this technology and has just built a demonstration plant of its own. Up til now, biofuel research has been practical or “applied research” based and many believe that is still the way to go, citing improvements to sugar extraction methods and the development of flex-fuel cares. Scientists claim that development of “next-generation” technologies can increase per-acre ethanol production by 40%, which would not be possible with first-generation technologies. To help realize these assumptions, Brazil is partnering with international companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Monsanto to develop biofuel R&D.
4. Sovacool, B. (2010). The importance of open and closed styles of energy research.Social Studies of Science (Sage), 40(6), 903-930.
This paper explores the styles of research associated with wind turbines, ethanol and fuel cells in six countries. The concept of a ‘research style’ emphasizes that values and interests, along with deeper historical and cultural influences, shape research and get built into technology. Open research styles are epitomized by a broad inclusion of actors in the research process, participatory ownership of its results, cooperation among stakeholders and users, and experimentation and flexibility. Closed research styles are distinguished by limited access and ownership, competition among researchers, centralization of the research process and rigidity in dictating programme goals and preferences. The paper uses the concept of open and closed research styles to compare the experiences of Denmark, Brazil and China (open) with those in the USA, France and Norway (closed).
5. Qurashi, M and Hussain, Tajammul. (2005). Renewable Energy Technologies for Developing Countries Now and to 2023. Published by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
This is a very comprehensive document which encapsulates the need, importance, options and impact of renewable energy technologies in nearly all aspects of economic and environmental livelihood. The authors go on to establish policy options and alternatives both on the international and national stages. This book gives a thorough assessment of energy options and relates those with specific reference to various developing countries. The book assesses and analyzes the current energy situation of the world and provides logical and practical suggestions and recommendations for the future world energy assessment and policy. This will be invaluable to comparing the transferability of ethanol and biomass technology from Brazil to other countries around the world. It will also serve to give suggestions on other types of technologies might be appropriate to deal with the energy needs of developing countries.
6. Sandalow, David. (May 2006). Ethanol: Lesson from Brazil
This article comes from the American perspective and seeks to understand what we as a country can learn from Brazil’s experience with ethanol. The article first talks about the need for ethanol and how the United States is lagging behind Brazil in ethanol production. It then summarizes the history of the Brazilian ethanol program, describes the program’s current status and considers lessons for the United States from the Brazilian experience. It gives five lessons that the United States can learn from Brazil:
1. 1. Rapid expansion of ethanol production is possible with government support.
2. Consistency counts – Requiring ethanol make up a certain percentage of fuel supply
3. 3. Any ethanol program must anticipate commodity price swings
4. 4. Public attitudes can change quickly, in 1970s enthusiasm was high in late 80s was low
5. 5. Ethanol technologies improve steadily with time, between 1975 and 2000 production per hectare more than doubled and harvesting prices fell by more than half.
7. Struminski, Thiago. (April 2008). Has the world really discovered the advantages of Brazilian automotive engineering? Obtained on February 9th, 2011 from http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag?docid=127369340
This article showcases the automotive engineering side of Brazil. It gives a history of the development of a uniquely Brazilian approach to engineering that could not be transferred from the international companies opening up factories. Because Brazil is such a large country, with poor road conditions, and wide ranges in temperatures, engineers had to design a durable and flexible automobile. The Brazilian automotive industry has been the pioneer in producing small pick-ups and 1.0 liter engines. Cars with 1.0 liter engines account for 52 percent of all cars sold in the country. While this is impressive the true flagship automotive technology is related to alternative fuels. Flex-fuel cars, ones which allow a mixture of ethanol and gasoline, are very popular in the country and are now offered in 86 percent of new cars. These developments in engineering have led to General Motors electing Brazil as one of the five Global Engineering Centers (the others are U.S, Europe, Australia and South Korea). Even while this is happening, engineering as a profession in Brazil is woefully underrepresented. Most developed countries have an average of 25 engineers per every 1000 inhabitants; Brazil is much lower, with only six per 1000 inhabitants. To remedy this problem, local associations are trying to incentive newcomers at the very bottom of the education system creating technical courses for youngsters and fostering a culture of technology. It is a wonder if the government should be creating an engineering culture as well.
I really like the ways in which you are interweaving your focus on ethanol with the question of engineering or technological design/design-making or energy research styles or cultures.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering how the politics of race, and descent play out in the context of ethanol research and production. Who has been making money in ethanol production? Who has been doing the physical labor? What links, if any, to histories of colonialism? I think I asked you previously, but what of indigenous people? rain forests? power differences within the country playing out in the context of this power production? Finally, what are the broader environmental politics of ethanol as success story?
Perhaps more easily integrated into your project - would you argue that Brazil's particular experience of colonialism / dependence or its type of government positioned it to respond differently to the 1970s oil crisis than the U.S.? Was having a smaller and less established engineering and industrial base productive in the sense that it allowed this new approach to take root and expand? (Conversely, is the U.S. hampered by its well-established auto industry?) And what does this tell us about models of development and appropriate technology more broadly?
I agree with Dr. Lehr about her suggestion to incorporate the influence of colonialism into your report. The affects of colonialism on the indigenous population in Brazil is such an important part in the countries economical history that it would be relevant to include how this switch to ethanol production has affected this particular population. You could research how the indigenous population was exploited as slaves to work in industries such as mining during colonialism, and how this created the permanent segregation of the indigenous population and Brazil’s social hierarchy. Has this switch to ethanol production contributed to this segregation by exploiting more workers to low wages due to the local employment increase or has it created better opportunities for the indigenous people? Has ethanol production and the move away from foreign oil help prosper the local economy and move away from economical poverty within the lower class income?
ReplyDeleteIn addition to your last idea of transferring this technology to other appropriate developing countries, you might want to examine the the difficulties, if any, that still resign from colonialism. Since Brazil was colonized by Portugal and the majority of Latin America was colonized by Spain, you might want to see if there are still any conflicts about sharing this type of knowledge and production between the different countries. If social biases and historical friction are still present and if they cause conflicts when sharing current ideas regarding economical progress. I really like this idea for your project because I feel that Brazil is a country that many people forget about, especially when it comes to economical progress and development.