Sugar Cane to Keep More Brazilian Lights Burning
Sugar cane already powers a growing number of Brazil's cars with ethanol, and fuels nights of endless conversation inspired by a local cane-based liquor called cachaca. Brazil's sugar and ethanol industry says cane is now also set to provide much more of the country's electricity within a decade through more efficient burning of the bagasse leftovers of sugar and ethanol production here. "By 2020 you're looking at 15 percent of the national demand (for electric energy) in Brazil," said Adhemar Altieri, a spokesman for Brazil's center-south Unica sugar cane industry association.