Quote: "The overwhelming majority of Brazilians live near the coast and a goodly percentage of them live in cities there. You cannot even compare the transportation needs of Brazil to one state, say California, with the US. They're also burning down forest as fast as they can to plant more of that sugar cane. I don't think the US is going to find much to emulate in Brazil that's transferable to the US on any significant scale."
Just to set you straight, Brazil isn't cutting down forests to plant sugarcane for ethanol. The sugarcane industry is mostly in the state of São Paulo, and nowhere near the Amazon basin. Virtually every car made in the last 8 to 10years runs on gas, ethanol or any mix of the two. They have had ethanol-running cars here in a big way since the 1980's. Finally, how could you imagine that California could have larger transportation needs than all of Brazil? Have you even seen the distances in Brazil? I'll say it again, ethanol works in Brazil because Brazil is in a very unique situation - LOTS of arable land and a perfect climate for growing sugarcane. There is not a single other country in the world that has the same conditions to make ethanol viable in the same way. Although Brazil is self-sufficient in oil, ethanol is the
fuel of choice (50% less at the
pumps!).