Ethanol use would benefit states with agricultural production: Kenneth Smith

Guadalajara, Jal. Due to the environmental, economic and social benefits that the use of the ethanolit is urgent that in Mexico the NOM-016 and the use of that biofuel as oxygenating agent gasoline to 10%, mainly in the large metropolitan areas -Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey-, currently excluded from current regulations.

“It has positive consequences in environmental matters, also in terms of the price of gasoline, which is a priority for this and other governments worldwide, which is why it is already used in more than 70 countries and, at the same time, developing a national ethanol program in Mexico would bring enormous benefits to the rural sector,” he told The EconomistKenneth Smith, Partner at International Consulting Firm Agon.

“There are many states in Mexico that are producers of sugar caneespecially in the Center and in the South-Southeast region of the country, which would have the possibility of an additional income that they do not have today, because the surplus of sugar cane or sugar that sometimes has to be auctioned off in markets international markets at loss prices”, explained the expert.

Within the framework of the congress on The Role of Bioenergy for the Decarbonization of Mexicoorganized by the Guadalajara campus of the Tec de Monterrey, Smith Ramos, highlighted that the ethanol use “It is a win-win” for the country since it would mean a decrease in the emission of pollutants, a reduction in gasoline prices, and would generate additional income for rural workers whose crops would be used for the production of biofuel.

Investment

The expert said that, in addition, the ethanol can help fulfill the commitments that North American leaders have proposed to move towards an energy transition in the region, with renewable energies, which would allow, he said, to attract greater investment to Mexico in sectors of the future such as semiconductors, equipment high-tech medical and lithium batteries, among others.

“When companies decide where to invest, they are increasingly aware today of their carbon footprint; that is, in their production processes, transportation, in all their activities that require energy, that it comes from renewable sources”, he pointed out.

He is also former head of technical negotiation for T-MEC in the Ministry of Economy, Kenneth Smith, stressed that, in principle, it is very important that Mexico resolve the dispute with the United States and Canada on energy, “to allow the participation of companies from those countries fully in those areas of the energy sector that opened our Constitution in 2013”.

He added that “the ethanol it plays a fundamental role because, although we are going to move towards electromobility in the coming years, it is a transition that is going to take time. There is going to be a very important period of transition where electric vehicles will coexist with internal combustion vehicles and it is there where ethanol as an oxygenating agent, if it is allowed to mix at least at levels of 10%, it would be possible, on the one hand, to use ethanol to reduce pollution and, on the other hand, reduce the price of gasoline”.

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