Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ornornor 1136 days ago
Doesn’t bio ethanol take more fossil fuel energy to create than it replaces?
1 comments

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil

I'm not very well versed in the subject but this should point you in the right direction!

> for average conditions one unit of fossil-fuel energy is required to create 8.3 energy units from the resulting ethanol

It seems they’re in a unique position because sugar cane grows there, is used in industry, and the leftovers that aren’t usable for anything else can be turned into fuel.

I had no idea Brazil has a unique bio ethanol industry, thanks for sharing.