The Alcohol Economy

# INTRODUCTION

Pierre Mariotie, President of the French Société du Petrole Vert, expressed the dilemma of many Third World countries concerned about their future supplies of petroleum as follows:

To rectify and wait for some miraculous help, bearing the risk of ever increasing oil prices and eventual rationing by the suppliers. Of petrol national and renewable resources as quickly as possible in order to be ready to face an uncertain and uncontrollable future for oil resources.

Brazil has chosen to act through the Programa Nacional do Alcool (PNA). This book is about the Brazilian national alcohol programme: its policies, techniques, economic aspects, its problems as well as successes. We have economic aspects, its problems as well as successes. We have attempted to present a fair and balanced account in an endeavour to clarify this unique political and technical experiment, whose goal as expressed by its most ardent supporters is an ‘ethanol economy’, in which vegetable ethers—biomass—is used to ferment ethanol as a renewable able resource so as to reduce reliance on petroleum. This remarkable achievement, now well into its second decade and one of the first World, and perhaps because of this has not been given the attention it

We hope that this work will make the Brazilians’ efforts and experiences more widely known, not only to active researchers, innovators and students, but to all those on what has already been achieved, but especially to political decision makers and the wider public— for without their clear understanding and support nothing will change.