Listen to a radio broadcast on Brazil's ethanol industry.

If you missed it NPR had a good report on the ethanol boom in Brazil over the Thanksgiving holiday.

The report,titled "Brazil's Sugar Cane-Powered Future" takes you onto a sugar cane plantation as well as inside an ethanol plant. It highlights that ethanol is now a $65 billion industry in Brazil, producing 4 billion gallons a year. It is predicted to double output over the next five years. About 80% of new cars sold in Brazil today are ethanol-adapted 'flex-fuel' vehicles.

However, the report correctly points out that ethanol is only part of a global energy solution. To replace a mere 10% of the world's gasoline consumption would require 10 times Brazil's current sugar cane crop. (Brazil is the world's largest sugar cane grower.)

Click here to listen to the report.

- David Adams