Starting this coming 2009 season Formula Indy cars are going to run on Brazilian ethanol. This information was disclosed on Friday, November 14, by the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex), which is negotiating the use of the fuel with Indy Racing, the organizer of the competition.
According to the Apex, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is going to speak about the novelty at the opening of the International Conference on Biofuels in São Paulo, this Monday, November 17.
The agency informed that a memorandum of understanding on the matter should be signed by the vice president of Indy Racing, Terry Angstadt, and by Apex president Alessandro Teixeira.
Lula is going to open the conference in the company of Minister Miguel Jorge (Development, Industry and Foreign Trade), and Dilma Rouseff (Chief of Staff), as well as Teixeira.
During the conference on biofuels, the Brazilian president is going to present an agricultural zoning plan that is currently being prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Brazil.
The study should be disclosed at the opening of the international conference on biofuels "International Conference on Biofuels: Biofuels as a driving force of sustainable development", to take place from the 17th to 21st.
"The study is going to show the areas for expansion of agriculture in the country, without including the Amazon, the Pantanal (wetlands in the west of the country), native Indian areas, forests, cities, etc.," said ambassador André Amado, undersecretary general for Energy and Top-End Technology at the Itamaraty, who is responsible for the event.
According to him, the research is effectively going to reveal the areas to be used by several crops, including sugarcane for production of ethanol, without this implying in deforestation. The study shows land that is currently underused. "It will be a great advance in this area, as details are lacking," he said.
According to figures disclosed by the Ministry, the country has 65 million hectares available for the expansion of sugarcane, being 37 million now in grazing land. In early October, the minister of Agriculture of Brazil, Reinhold Stephanes, said that the cultivation of sugarcane should expand into these grazing grounds, which are well distributed throughout Brazil.
Anba
