Many critics of ethanol argue that it takes too much fuel to produce the alternative fuel. In fact, one reader made a comment stating that very idea just yesterday on the “An EPIC Salute at Indy 500” post. Well, SEKAB, a Swedish biofuel producer, says it has now introduced the world’s first fully sustainable ethanol.

Swedish SEKAB today announced that it is the first company in the world to supply verified sustainable ethanol. This ethanol from Brazilian sugarcane is quality assured from environmental, climate and social perspectives. SEKAB has together with progressive Brazilian producers developed criteria that cover the entire lifecycle of ethanol from the sugarcane fields to its use in flexi-fuel (FFV) cars.

Harvesting is to be at least 30 per cent mechanised today and this will increase to 100 per cent by 2014. In terms of the climate, the demands will result in a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from farming, production and transport by at least 85 per cent compared with gasoline.

Admittedly, SEKAB is working with sugarcane-based ethanol. But the Brazilian cane ethanol has been developing for more than thirty years while corn-based ethanol is still in its infancy of development. In an earlier post, “LifeLine Foods Just Happens to Sell Ethanol,” LifeLine CEO Bill Becker talked about technology that’s being developed as we speak to make the corn kernal, husk and plant just as sustainable as sugarcane when it comes to ethanol production.