Tech Roundup: sugarcane ethanol less polluting than once thought

This week’s topics: Brazilian sugarcane ethanol may not be as harmful as once thought. Insurance startup creates a life expectancy calculator adjusted by occupation. Latin America’s largest farm is almost 100 percent automated.

Brazilian sugarcane ethanol less polluting than once thought

Debates about the environmental and economic efficiency of sugarcane ethanol have been around for years, even in Brazil. The latest installment in this discussion came this week, with a study from the National Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), carrying out an extensive review of all available data on the energy source. Their conclusion? Brazilian sugarcane ethanol is not nearly as polluting as previously thought.

The study. The organization, linked to the Science, Technology, and Innovations Ministry, initially carried out a review of the literature on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions resulting from the use of nitrogen fertilizers in areas of sugarcane cultivation in the Center-South region of Brazil.

• Nitrous oxide was chosen for the study due to its potency as a greenhouse gas. “One kilo of N2O is equivalent to 300 kilos of carbon dioxide [CO2],” says CNPEM researcher João Carvalho, speaking to The Brazilian Report.
• Furthermore, “the main source of this gas is in agriculture; and within that, the vast majority comes from nitrogen fertilizers,” he says, explaining that the use of these fertilizers makes up almost 50 percent of all sugarcane ethanol emissions.
• Thus, in order to know the level of pollution created by the generation of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, analyzing the carbon footprint caused by N20 is crucial.

Environmental advantages. After reviewing the literature, the researchers calculated a regional nitrous oxide emission factor, in order to reach a more precise assessment of how much greenhouse gases are released in Brazil’s ethanol production.

• The study revealed that the use of their regional factor resulted in a 19 percent reduction in total sugarcane ethanol emissions, compared to the default factor proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
• “Other countries already have their own factors, they don’t use the international one. The...