There will undoubtedly be a lot of sneering at the concept of using ethanol fuel to drive an automobile. The level of sneering may even increase when it emerges that the country which is doing more than any to increase the use of ethanol is Brazil. But when you take into account the fact that Brazil has been doing increasingly well on the financial and social fronts recently, even in times of global doom-saying, it becomes a matter for our consideration – is ethanol the way forward?

There are some caveats to the broad support given for ethanol fuel. Not least of these is that it is an ideal way for Brazil to run cars due to its agricultural infrastructure, but would not translate as well to other areas without a great deal of importing – something which is not only environmentally questionable but also possibly unsustainable in the long term.

The question of translation is the important one here. Can other countries – which may not be set up so well for ethanol production – find other ways to increase their use of sustainable fuels and reap rewards in the same way that has happened in Brazil? It may take some time, but with reliance on imported oil hurting more and more countries, is it time to look seriously at following the Brazilian model?