BRAZIL GOT OFF OIL IN THE LAST 30 YEARS?

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/may/02/bill-maher/bill-maher-and-george-will-spar-over-oil-and-brazi/



A potential ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico led to a spirited debate on U.S. energy policy on ABC News' This Week.

Liberal commentator Bill Maher lamented the fact that both major political parties, including President Barack Obama, have supported offshore oil drilling in recent years instead of being more aggressive about renewable energy.

"Where is the other side on this? I could certainly criticize oil companies and I could criticize America in general for not attacking this problem in the '70s. Brazil got off oil in the last 30 years; we certainly could have," Maher said.

Maher said Obama seems to be backpedaling on offshore drilling since the spill, adding "I hope there's a flip-flop I can believe in there."

Conservative columnist George Will challenged Maher about Brazil. "Could you just explain to me in what sense has Brazil got off oil?"

"I believe they did," Maher said. "I believe in the 70's they had a program to use sugarcane ethanol, and I believe that is what fuels their country."

"I think they still burn a lot of oil and have a lot of offshore (drilling)," Will said.

"Can we have judges factcheck this on Brazil?" Maher said a few moments later. "I don't think I dreamed that on Brazil."

With an invitation like that, how could we resist? So we dug into the research on Brazil and energy.

Brazil does produce a lot of sugarcane ethanol, as Maher said.

"Brazil is one of the largest producers of ethanol in the world and is the largest exporter of the fuel," according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Energy that collects and analyzes energy information.

Additionally, more than half of all cars in Brazil are flexible-fuel capable, which means they can run on 100 percent ethanol or an ethanol-gasoline mixture.

By contrast, the best numbers we found for the United States is that there are approximately 8 million flexible-fuel vehicles, which would translate to roughly 3 percent of all vehicles. (We would caution that even that number might be deceptive, as the U.S. Department of Energy warns that "many FFV owners don't know their vehicle is one.")

But even though Brazil aggressively uses biofuels, and invests quite a bit in hydroelectric power, it still produces and consumes a lot of oil.

In 2008, Brazil ranked No. 7 on the list of the world's countries that consume the most oil, using about 2.5 million barrels per day. In first place was the United States at 19.5 million barrels per day, followed by China, Japan, India, Russia, and Germany, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Brazil also produces a lot of oil through drilling near its coasts. In recent years, Brazil's state-controlled energy company Petrobras announced a major new find of oil in some of the deepest waters where exploration is conducted, some 7,000 feet below in the Atlantic Ocean. The find is expected to make Brazil even more important in the oil export business. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that Brazil will become a net exporter of oil this year, even before the new fields are tapped.

Getting back to our factcheck, Maher was likely remembering Brazil's aggresive efforts to promote ethanol, and certainly Brazil has outpaced the United States in getting flexible fuel vehicles on the road. But Maher said, "Brazil got off oil in the last 30 years." Actually, Brazil still consumes a great deal of oil. It's also embarking on more offshore drilling in some of the deepest waters for exploration. Brazil is hardly "off oil." So we rate Maher's statement False.

[Luigi]

My parents, who live in Brazil, had their first ethanol powered car back in the 80s. Today most of the cars are flexible-fuel, you can use gasoline, ethanol or a mix of the two. It's perfectly possible to cross the whole country without using a single drop of oil. All gas stations have ethanol, which is much cheaper than gasoline. Anyway, talking about oil, Petrobras, the Brazilian multinational oil company, has the 4th biggest reserve in the world, probably the 3rd after a massive oil field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro was discovered in 2007. Today Brazil is self-sufficient in oil. For more info: http://www.cfr.org/publication/10461/learning_from_brazil.html

[Secularbeliever]

A few things about Brazil that make this less than it seems.  They produce ethanol from sugar which is an efficient source of ethanol.  We produce ethanol from corn which is an awful source.  Brazil has become a large producer of oil.  Their trucks still run on diesel.  They are a net exporter of oil but that is a long way from saying they are off oil.

[cjd]

A few things about Brazil that make this less than it seems.  They produce ethanol from sugar which is an efficient source of ethanol.  We produce ethanol from corn which is an awful source.  Brazil has become a large producer of oil.  Their trucks still run on diesel.  They are a net exporter of oil but that is a long way from saying they are off oil.

Very good points....America has had flexable fuel cars since the mid 90's. On the West Coast I remember seeing ethanol based fuels being sold but I have never seen it here on the East Coast. Farmers are trying to cash in on the corn crop to make motor vehicle fuels however this is driving up the price of corn based food products.

[TruthSpreader]

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/may/02/bill-maher/bill-maher-and-george-will-spar-over-oil-and-brazi/



A potential ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico led to a spirited debate on U.S. energy policy on ABC News' This Week.

Liberal commentator Bill Maher lamented the fact that both major political parties, including President Barack Obama, have supported offshore oil drilling in recent years instead of being more aggressive about renewable energy.

"Where is the other side on this? I could certainly criticize oil companies and I could criticize America in general for not attacking this problem in the '70s. Brazil got off oil in the last 30 years; we certainly could have," Maher said.

Maher said Obama seems to be backpedaling on offshore drilling since the spill, adding "I hope there's a flip-flop I can believe in there."

Conservative columnist George Will challenged Maher about Brazil. "Could you just explain to me in what sense has Brazil got off oil?"

"I believe they did," Maher said. "I believe in the 70's they had a program to use sugarcane ethanol, and I believe that is what fuels their country."

"I think they still burn a lot of oil and have a lot of offshore (drilling)," Will said.

"Can we have judges factcheck this on Brazil?" Maher said a few moments later. "I don't think I dreamed that on Brazil."

With an invitation like that, how could we resist? So we dug into the research on Brazil and energy.

Brazil does produce a lot of sugarcane ethanol, as Maher said.

"Brazil is one of the largest producers of ethanol in the world and is the largest exporter of the fuel," according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Energy that collects and analyzes energy information.

Additionally, more than half of all cars in Brazil are flexible-fuel capable, which means they can run on 100 percent ethanol or an ethanol-gasoline mixture.

By contrast, the best numbers we found for the United States is that there are approximately 8 million flexible-fuel vehicles, which would translate to roughly 3 percent of all vehicles. (We would caution that even that number might be deceptive, as the U.S. Department of Energy warns that "many FFV owners don't know their vehicle is one.")

But even though Brazil aggressively uses biofuels, and invests quite a bit in hydroelectric power, it still produces and consumes a lot of oil.

In 2008, Brazil ranked No. 7 on the list of the world's countries that consume the most oil, using about 2.5 million barrels per day. In first place was the United States at 19.5 million barrels per day, followed by China, Japan, India, Russia, and Germany, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Brazil also produces a lot of oil through drilling near its coasts. In recent years, Brazil's state-controlled energy company Petrobras announced a major new find of oil in some of the deepest waters where exploration is conducted, some 7,000 feet below in the Atlantic Ocean. The find is expected to make Brazil even more important in the oil export business. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that Brazil will become a net exporter of oil this year, even before the new fields are tapped.

Getting back to our factcheck, Maher was likely remembering Brazil's aggresive efforts to promote ethanol, and certainly Brazil has outpaced the United States in getting flexible fuel vehicles on the road. But Maher said, "Brazil got off oil in the last 30 years." Actually, Brazil still consumes a great deal of oil. It's also embarking on more offshore drilling in some of the deepest waters for exploration. Brazil is hardly "off oil." So we rate Maher's statement False.

Good for them. We too need to get off oil.

[Secularbeliever]

A few things about Brazil that make this less than it seems.  They produce ethanol from sugar which is an efficient source of ethanol.  We produce ethanol from corn which is an awful source.  Brazil has become a large producer of oil.  Their trucks still run on diesel.  They are a net exporter of oil but that is a long way from saying they are off oil.

Very good points....America has had flexable fuel cars since the mid 90's. On the West Coast I remember seeing ethanol based fuels being sold but I have never seen it here on the East Coast. Farmers are trying to cash in on the corn crop to make motor vehicle fuels however this is driving up the price of corn based food products.

Corn based ethanol uses about as much energy in manufacture as it produces.  In other words it does nothing to cut oil use.  Much like hydrogen that all the environmentalists talk about.  It takes more power to produce hydrogen than the hydrogen produces.  So you end up burning more coal which is the still the major generating fuel for electricity in the USA.  And coal is the dirtiest fuel to burn.

[IsraelForever]

As usual, Bill Maher, the polemicist, shows his ignorance on national TV.  It is ignorant of him not to know that Brazil uses oil and drills for oil in the ocean.  And for those who have forgotten:  Bill Maher said that the Arabs who flew the jets into the Twin Towers were not the cowards.  He said we were the cowards!

He's a vile, piece of trash.  And ignorant to boot.

[muman613]

As usual, Bill Maher, the polemicist, shows his ignorance on national TV.  It is ignorant of him not to know that Brazil uses oil and drills for oil in the ocean.  And for those who have forgotten:  Bill Maher said that the Arabs who flew the jets into the Twin Towers were not the cowards.  He said we were the cowards!

He's a vile, piece of trash.  And ignorant to boot.

I concur, Maher is a patented idiot...

[New Yorker]

We could get off oil if we wanted to, the technology is there, the industrial capacity is there, of course there is, this is AMERICA! Not some hapless tinpot turd world backwater (though we are headed in that direction at breakneck speed thanks to our "government" and their leftist allies). And we don't need to use sugar or corn, fast growing algae could be used to make all the biofuel we could ever use, look it up, google algae biofuel. In the end it comes down to the BASTARDS in big oil and of course their puppets in the "government" suppressing the development and wide spread deployment of these alternatives. They want to milk us for money for as long as possible.

Lets say you wanted to get off oil. Okay, so where are the alternative fuel cars to buy? Not at your local dealership I can tell you that. And lets say you actually track down one of those rare alternative fuel autos to buy, what happens when your tank runs out? Where do you refill? Not exactly an ethanol/bio-fuel pump on every corner. I'm sure everyone would switch given the chance, and hearing about alternatives when you have no reasonable access to them and can't do anything about it is infuriating. 

Oh and by the way, has anyone else noticed that the "oil shortage" is a complete scam!? Apparently there's so much oil under the ground we can turn the oceans black with oil if we wanted to, take a look at the Gulf spill, the oil slick is the size of the state of Rhode Island, that is from ONE well, and it's not all of the oil from that ONE well, it's barely a fraction of it, it's not like the well dried itself out from this spill. The shortage is a SCAM, the prices are artificially inflated, the oil company people are loathsome BASTARDS, their lackeys in our government are loathsome BASTARDS. If I had it my way, they'd all be hung for their crimes.