Resumo:

In 2007, sugarcane ethanol provided 16.3% of the energy for ground transportation (excluding railways) and 37.6% of the overall energy supplied via liquid fuel for Otto cycle engines in Brazil. This last figure was 51% in 1988. In addition to the energy extracted and stored in ethanol, burning the sugarcane bagasse is used to generate heat for the mill. Bagasse has been increasingly used as raw material for generating electricity resold to distributors. In 2007, the total energy generated from sugarcane in Brazil reached 15.9% of all the energy generated in the country; this figure makes sugarcane the second major energy source in Brazil, second to petroleum and above hydroelectricity.