Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
03/07/2012
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
Price of ethanol makes it less competitive against deforestation longer necessary
A drop of 35%, or nearly 6 billion liters of ethanol in sales over the past two years puts at risk the achievement of targets for cutting emissions of greenhouse gases undertaken by Brazil.
The move surprised the Ministry of Environment, whose main scenario for the emission of greenhouse gases assumed increasing use of ethanol. The expansion of biofuel would be responsible for a reduction from 79 to 89 million tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by 2020, a contribution from 8% to 9% of the total target of cutting emissions to the government undertook in 2009.
Much depends on the fulfillment of the goal of reducing deforestation in the Amazon and the Cerrado, the largest source of greenhouse gases in the country The drop in sales of ethanol to the consumer becomes even more crucial to the fight against chainsaws.
Document published by the Environment Ministry last year estimated that emissions of carbon dioxide per vehicle by 2020 would grow at an average of 4.7% per year, due to the increase of the fleet in the country This percentage is already higher than that the average emissions growth recorded over a period of 30 years, until 2009, the year when Brazil assumed targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to 2020.
But the scenario outlined by the document entitled Air Emissions Inventory for Road Vehicles presented as the main contribution to emission reduction program for hydrous ethanol. In the official accounts, the CO2 emissions caused by vehicles running on ethanol are neutralized by the capture of carbon in the process of cultivation of cane sugar.
The increase in sales of hybrid cars, which grew steadily since 2003, should continue at the same pace, said the official scenario. In 2009, the flex already accounted for 37% of the fleet of cars, dominated the sale of new cars.
But this scenario was not confirmed. Last year, sales of hybrid cars fell for the first time since the launch of the engines with Brazilian technology. The licensing of hybrid cars fell to 83% of all cars sold in 2011, the lowest percentage in five years, as reported in the state in February.
Future
The projection of the ministry that the cars would run flex fuel switching at a rate close to 50% also run the risk of not sustaining. The use of ethanol is no longer advantageous compared to gasoline when its price exceeds 70% of the gas at the pump. The consumer chooses the cheaper price at the time of supply, an equation is unfavorable to ethanol.
Moreover, to curb emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 in the energy sector, the government accounted for the increase in domestic supply of ethanol in more than 20 billion liters, one of the main measures to combat global warming.
Data from the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) show an explosion in gasoline consumption from 2010. In two years, while sales fell 35% ethanol, gasoline sales rose more than 39%. Since 2005, gasoline sales recorded an increase of 2% per year. In 2010, they grew 17.45%. In 2011, 18.79%, reaching 35.4 billion liters, compared to 10.7 billion liters of ethanol sold in the same year.
Source: Ig News
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.