Ethanol for a clean and bright future

Ethanol is a very usefull and versatile product, consumed in reasonable amounts it can turn boring parties into very interesting experiences. Aswell ethanol is a great substance to clean your laboratorytable with when you spilled some bugs on a clumsy monday morning.

Burning ethanol recycles atmospheric carbon instead of releasing fossilized carbon into the atmosphere thus reducing the accumulation of greenhouse gases. Japan recently authorized the substitution of up to 3% of gasoline with ethanol, which will help the country to meet its Kyoto Treaty commitments . To obtain ethanol Japan made a deal with Brazil. Export of ethanol to Japan will start in 2008 with 20 million litres.
Brazil, the second biggest producer of ethanol (after the US) is able to produce high volume and low cost sugar cane which gives the country a competitive edge in the production of ethanol for export. Biotechnology plays an important part in the ability of Brazil to keep up production with the increasing demand. 90% of the sugar cane genome was sequenced in 2003 and research groups in Brazil have been producing transgenic sugar cane varieties with better productivity, resistance to droughts and bad soils eversince.

"Brazil and Japan give fuel to ethanol market" , Nature Biotechnology 24, March 2006

Btw, if you after reading this article became inspired to actually consume ethanol, the best way to take it is in a diluted flavoured and very tasty form: Zubrowka. Drink it WITH applejuice (but don't MIX it with applejuice).