Brazil: Biofuel leader

Brazil is becoming a world leader in biofuels, especially with ethanol and biodiesel in the South American continent. However, they are not expanding into other markets without controversy. It seems that Petrobras, a firm that has quickly emerged as a leader in the biofuels market, has recieved crtiticism from environmental and indigenous groups for environmental degradation close to indigenous communities throughout South America. Petrobras defends its work and accomplishments in these communities, however.

Whether anyone likes it or not, though, that Brazil is a leader in this emerging market, with even U.S. Midwestern farmers attending conferences on biodiesel there. Petrobras invests in biofuels projects in several South American nations, including Bolivia, where recently President Morales has expressed interest in learning more about the production biodiesel. Meanwhile, Petrobras continues to expand within Brazil as well.

I would really like to see how Brazil and other South American nations are going to address the problems of deforestation associated with biofuel crops and energy input into said crops. These are the two biggest issues that prevent people from jumping on the biofuel bandwagon. Although there clearly have been some great developments in biofuel technology in recent years, it will take a combination of reduced dependence on fossil fuels, increasing the fuel economy of vehicles, and building more walkable/bikeable cities to really solve our energy needs.