Trade Balance

In combination with a significant energy efficiency effort, there is almost nothing better for the local economy than increased reliance on biomass fuels. Local economies and national trade balances benefit from the replacement of imported fuels with local fuels, since the revenue from the production of wood fuels tends to be retained by the local community.

The possible impact of biomass to import reduction is very obvious from well-known Brazil ethanol production. To better balance Brazil's petroleum consumption with its crude oil production, intensive research was conducted from the late 1960's through the early 1970's to identify an economically viable alternative to oil as a fuel source. Ethanol, extracted from sugarcane, was chosen as one of these alternatives. The objective of the National Alcohol Program (PROALCOOL), established in 1975, was to use ethanol as a fuel substitute for gasoline and to increase ethanol production for industrial uses.

By 1985, when the programme had been in operation for ten years, some US $6.5 billion had been invested in the production of 13 billion gallons (50 billion litres) of ethanol, some 500,000 jobs had been created, 2.5 million vehicles were running on pure ethanol, and all the gasoline at filling stations had an admixture of 20 percent ethanol. Brazil now has technology and equipment capable of maintaining a four billion gallon (16 billion litre) annual output and of exporting the related technology, equipment, and services. A great many of the passenger cars manufactured in Brazil run on ethanol.

Ethanol distillery in Brazil		More than 500 people are producing fuelwood stoves made from soapstone in a factory located in Eastern Finland. This unique stoves follows and support a constant growth of biomass use in Finland but also in many countries around the world where they export their products under the motto: "The Forms of Warmth!"