Flex fuel vehicles in Brazil can switch among bioethanol, gasoline, and natural gas. Image: wikimedia commons.

Drive into a gas station in Brazil and you’ll find a choice of ethanol, gasoline, premium, or even natural gas. Car manufacturers have responded with flex-fuel vehicles. Brazil is the second largest global producer of ethanol fuel and a leader in sustainable biofuels; with the United States, the two countries account for 87.8% of global ethanol production. Brazil advanced renewable energy with Itaipu and the Liter of Light program. Should American car manufacturers, and fuel stations, follow Brazil’s leadership with flex-fuel vehicles?

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.