Pull into any fuel station in Brazil and the question will be the same: "Álcool ou gasolina?" Ethanol or gasoline?
This South American nation is the first country in the world to adopt ethanol as a major fuel. Instead of relying on oil from the Middle East, Brazil looks to its fields of sugarcane to help power its cars and trucks. Most vehicles sold here are capable of running on either ethanol or gasoline, and the country is well on its way to creating the world's first ethanol-based economy.
Many see Brazil as a model for America's transition from an economy dependent on foreign oil to one based on several alternative fuels, including ethanol. But while Brazil is a laboratory for U.S. automakers and a case study for policymakers, its embrace of ethanol is the result of very different historic, political and agricultural realities.
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