7.18 trip to ethanol plant

Something that really stood out during today's long bus ride to the ethanol production plant was the incredibly vast area occupied by the fields of sugar cane crops.  It was difficult for me not to hearken back, especially after learning a bit about the harvesting process, to a time not so far back in history when sugar cane probably covered a similar amount of land but was harvested exclusively using manual slave labor, an exhausting and back-breaking activity.  Obviously times are quite different now, and we learned that most of the harvesting process is now mechanized (as was demonstrated during Prof. Josh's brave journey to the driver's seat of the harvesting machine), but I definitely felt a stark reminder of slavery's influence on Brazil while standing in the sugar cane field.

The vastness of the sugar cane fields also meant that it made a lot of sense for an ethanol plant to be built there.  Sugar is obviously a staple crop in Brazil, as we learned today that Brazil is far and away the world's largest producer of sugar.  We saw the massive scale of the operation today (it really blew my mind that those bags could hold more than one ton of sugar without ripping apart).  Somewhat unsurprisingly given its share of the sugar cane market, Brazil is also the world's largest producer of ethanol.  It is interesting that, as we discussed in class, Brazil produces ethanol using sugar cane while the United States, another major producer of ethanol, uses corn.  This is a great example of both countries getting more use out of goods that are already major contributor to their economies.

While it makes sense for Brazil to place a large emphasis on ethanol to link with its sugar cane industry, the energy input required to produce ethanol serves as an important disclaimer.  We learned that it takes a significant amount of oil, a fossil fuel, to create a barrel of ethanol.  The net positive effect of producing ethanol, in terms of oil saved, is actually quite small.  We saw firsthand today the significant effort required to create it.Therefore, as we have learned about other alternative energy sources, ethanol should not be viewed as the singular solution to the world's energy dilemma.