For this assessment we used official data and technical coefficients provided by a very detailed and informative study published by the Sugar Cane Agro-industry Union (UNICA) in Brazil (De Carvalho Macedo, 2005). These data have been checked against the assessment of ethanol production from sugar cane in Brazil provided by Patzek and Pimentel (2005) and [...]
As observed, the production of the US and Brazil combined covers almost 90 per cent of the world production of biofuels. In 2006, the US produced 18.4 billion litres (46 per cent of the world’s total) and Brazil 16 billion litres of ethanol (42 per cent of the world’s total; World Bank, 2008). Even though [...]