I think we're going to have to move this over to the 'off topic' forum!
Sailaway, I'll well aware of Brazil's oil reserves and it's bright future supplying oil to your country
. If you read what I wrote you'll see that I said "Brazil is self-sufficient in energy
partially due to the alcohol program it has." It's something you can't appreciate until you come here and see for yourself. Every car made in Brazil today (and for more than a decade) has a "flex" engine that burns alcohol or gas. Alcohol is the fuel of choice. It's much cheaper. Alcohol is at every pump. It has helped Brazil to acheive its self-sufficiency in energy. Again, no forest is being cut down in the southeast of Brazil to plant sugarcane. It was all cut down generations ago for coffee, oranges and other crops. There is a lot of arable land in Brazil.
A final point. Bio fuels don't have a lick of consequence on commodity prices. Both corn and sugar prices are low right now and it's not because there is less being used for bio fuels. Commodity prices have been subject to a lot of speculation in the markets. It's poppycock that making alcohol in Brazil takes food off people's plates in Africa. I'm sorry, but you must look deeper into this to understand what's happening. Brazil isn't growing sugarcane at the expense of food, although this might be the case elsewhere. The grain market, like other markets, is heavily manipulated by 'investors' and it is perhaps one of the least regulated of them all. Anyhow, I didn't want to get into a political debate, all I wanted to say was DON'T WORRY ABOUT 10 or 15% ALCOHOL IN YOUR TANK- IT WON"T HURT YOUR CAR! Sheesh! ...