Ethanol for a Sustainable Energy Future
Open accessAbstract
Renewable energy is one of the most efficient ways to achieve sustainable development. Increasing its share in the world matrix will help prolong the existence of fossil fuel reserves, address the threats posed by climate change, and enable better security of the energy supply on a global scale. Most of the “new renewable energy sources” are still undergoing large-scale commercial development, but some technologies are already well established. These include Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, which, after 30 years of production, is a global energy commodity that is fully competitive with motor gasoline and appropriate for replication in many countries.
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Bioethanol is currently produced by fermentation of agricultural crops, mainly sugarcane in Brazil and/or corn in the US.
“Currently, bioethanol is produced by fermentation of agricultural crops, mainly sugarcane in Brazil (Goldemberg 2007) and/or corn in the US (Hill et al. 2006).”
From Renewable energy from Cyanobacteria: energy production optimization by metabolic pathway engineering (2011) · cites this paper as Goldemberg 2007
The EROEI for the production of ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil is 5 to 10.
“However, EROEI for the production of ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil is 5 to 10, suggesting sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil costs less than that in US [50,51] and Brazil would benefit with using biofuel as energy source.”
From Investigation of Biofuel as a Potential Renewable Energy Source (2021) · cites this paper as [50]
Sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil costs less than that in the US, and Brazil would benefit from using biofuel as an energy source.
“However, EROEI for the production of ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil is 5 to 10, suggesting sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil costs less than that in US [50,51] and Brazil would benefit with using biofuel as energy source.”
From Investigation of Biofuel as a Potential Renewable Energy Source (2021) · cites this paper as [50]
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- Authors
- Goldemberg, J.
- Affiliations
- University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2007-02-09
- Volume
- 315
- Issue
- 5813
- Pages
- 808-810
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2026405532
- Cited by
- 1,423
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 39 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 88 · 2020: 66 · 2019: 86 · 2018: 89 · 2017: 72 · 2016: 91 · 2015: 97 · 2014: 96 · 2013: 101 · 2012: 101
- FWCI
- 45.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.sciencemag.org
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- Princeton University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biofuel production and bioconversion
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Bioeconomy and Sustainability Development
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
- Keywords
- ethanol, biofuels, renewable energy, sugarcane ethanol, energy security, climate change mitigation, fossil fuel substitution, gasoline, sustainable development
- MeSH terms
- Ethanol, Biotechnology, Brazil, Conservation of Energy Resources, Costs and Cost Analysis, Electricity, Energy-Generating Resources, Hot Temperature, Trees, Ecosystem, Biomass, Saccharum
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