Because ethanol is a renewable fuel produced from crops such as grains, sugarbeet, sugar cane, fruits and other agricultural products, it is a sustainable and environmentally-friendly alternative to fossil fuels, which of course contribute to climate change. Ethanol produces fewer GHG emissions during its production and use, and therefore has a smaller carbon footprint than gasoline. Brazil in particular relies heavily upon the use of ethanol as an engine fuel, due in part to its role as one of the world’s leading producers of ethanol. Gasoline sold in Brazil contains at least 25% anhydrous ethanol. More than 20% of Brazilian cars are able to use 100% ethanol as fuel, which includes ethanol-only engines and flex-fuel engines
The US and many other countries primarily use E10 (10% ethanol, sometimes known as gasohol) and E85 (85% ethanol) ethanol/gasoline mixtures. Over time, it is believed that a material portion of the ≈150-billion-US-gallon (570,000,000 m3) per year market for gasoline will begin to be replaced with fuel ethanol. About two million gallons of fuel ethanol were consumed in 1981, and about 13.9 billion gallons were consumed in 2021.
