Ethanol car project turns turtle
THE BRAZILIAN government is considering winding up its Proalcohol project, set up in 1975 to counter the petrol crisis by developing an alternative fuel for automobiles, ironically because the price of "dirty" fuel petrol has fallen.
About 4 million cars have been modified to run on ethanol since the Brazilian programme became operational in 1979. This has reduced both pollution and the country's oil import bill.
The government's re-thinking about Proalcohol comes in the wake of the drastic fall in the price of petrol to about US $23 per 159-litre barrel. Ethanol costs $30-40 per barrel and this has prompted Osmar Ivoer, director of the Brazilian national fuel department, to forecast the end of ethanol car production by 2000.
The Brazilian decision has aroused strong resentment among environmentalists, who contend the actual reason for scrapping the programme is not the price of ethanol, but politics. Claudio Manesco of the Copersucar cooperative, a group of cane-producers in Sao Paulo, says, "The cost of a barrel of petrol does not take into account the real costs, which involve building rigs and towing them into the middle of the sea." The cost of the anti-pollution measures that would have to be undertaken if cars revert to petrol have not been taken into account either (New Scientist, Vol. 137, No. 1855).
An ethanol car is not only environment friendly, as it emits far fewer pollutants than a petrol vehicle, but also does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. Studies indicate an ethanol car reduces carbon monoxide production by upto 30 per cent, while also producing only an insignificant amount of sulphur dioxide. Similarly, it produces 15 per cent less nitrogen oxides and an insignificant amount of polluting carbon particles. The pro-ethanol lobby is convinced that despite an official denial, the state-owned monopoly, Petrobras, which handles ethanol distribution, has not worked in the public interest. "Petrobras behaves as if it were a private company," complains Manesco.