*Marian Tommy
If there is a 100% indigenous, innovative and globally recognized technology that we can be very proud of, it is the Flex. In March 2003, Brazil celebrated the history of the automotive industry by giving consumers the hitherto unprecedented freedom to fill their cars with gasoline or ethanol.
Now, in a world increasingly affected and alarmed by climate change, whose causes also come from the use of fossil fuels, ethanol presents itself, once again, as an alternative path to sustainable and low-carbon mobility. It is a clean and renewable fuel! A true ally of the environment because it helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Biofuels are produced by bioenergy plants, which are already strategic for the Brazilian economy by generating millions of direct and indirect jobs, in addition to increasing taxes, and biofuels are at the heart of many researches aimed at technology that will enable the electrification of cars through energy cells. Fuel that generates electrical energy from the hydrogen contained in ethanol.
Brazil already has a cleaner car fleet, even compared to countries like the United States, England, France, Germany and many others. It is worth noting that several studies have shown that an electric car emits 65 grams of CO2, while a hydro-ethanol flex-fuel car emits only 58 grams. The future will certainly be a hybrid model that combines electricity and ethanol. Therefore, emissions are expected to drop to just 29 grams of CO2 equivalent per kilometer.
We also know that the growth in the use of ethanol, now and in the future, is the best solution to the challenge of decarbonizing the country’s light vehicle fleet, and in addition to the large flex fleet and the production of ethanol in large quantities by the plants, the distribution is largely ensured by a unified network of stations. There is no need to build electric charging points as is the case with 100% electric vehicles.
And that’s not all. We also have several technologies under development to use ethanol to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). A fuel that is more sustainable than petroleum-based jet fuel.
And how does the state of Goiás look in this scenario? It’s certainly not the other way around. After all, there are 37 bioenergy plants producing ethanol operating here. Most of them use sugarcane as a raw material, but increasingly corn is being used, making biofuel production possible in the sugarcane off-season.
So, whether in the Flex, or in the near future, with the fuel cell hybrid, we are an example to the world! Is this or is this not something to be very proud of? I have!
Mirian Toomey – Journalist and Communications Advisor for the Bioenergy Sector in Goiás
The article was originally published in O POPULAR-
