"[T]here is already a relatively significant installed capacity for production of ethanol in Central America, especially in Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica."
By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Jun 23 (IPS) - The countries of Latin America are turning more and more to plans for the use and development of ethanol, or alcohol made from sugar cane, as they are feeling an ever-pressing need to diversify their sources of energy for economic and environmental reasons.
Colombia, one of the countries most advanced in this respect after Brazil, the region's undisputed leader, now produces between 900,000 and one million litres a day of ethanol. In 60 percent of the national territory, the petrol sold is a mandatory blend containing 10 percent ethanol.
"The idea is to extend that to the entire country," Julio Ce'sar Vera, director of hydrocarbons in the Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy, told IPS. "We have already begun to carry out studies for raising the proportion of alcohol in petrol to 20 percent over the next five to 10 years."
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