When asked to describe Brazil in a few words, Alessandro Teixeira doesn’t flinch.

“We are the energy country,” said Mr. Teixeira, president of ApexBrasil, the country’s export promotion agency.

In a breakfast presentation on Brazil’s economy at the Atlanta offices of law firm Miller & Martin PLLC, Mr. Teixeira said a diversified energy portfolio has helped the country develop rapidly and fend off global economic woes.

Although recent discoveries of massive crude oil deposits off Brazil’s Atlantic coast have given the country a big cushion in petroleum, it’s been a long and difficult history of developing renewable sources that has brought about the current boom.

As gas prices rise and environmental concerns flair, Brazil’s competitive advantage in the energy sector grows.

Georgia officials have noticed the country’s success and are seeking to imitate it on a smaller scale.

In April, the state created an Energy Innovation Center, and Gov. Sonny Perdue coined the term “Bioenergy Corridor” to refer to the state’s north-to-south chain of alternative energy-related businesses and organizations.

A strong agricultural sector and millions of forested acres mean that Georgia has adequate feedstocks to sustain commercial production of alternative fuels like ethanol and biodiesel.

On a trade mission to Brazil in May, Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle spoke at a lunch to 30 representatives from top energy companies and explored economic opportunities in three cities.

That trip followed two Georgia missions to Brazil in 2007, one led by Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Ken Stewart.

Mr. Teixeira said Georgia’s biofuels focus adds another reason for Brazil to target the state, already Brazil’s third-largest state trading partner behind California and Florida.

Georgia exported $415 million in goods to Brazil and imported $915.5 million of goods from Brazil through the Savannah Customs District in 2007, an 18.5 percent increase from the previous year.

Tim Perry, a Miller & Martin attorney who served as honorary consul of Brazil in Atlanta for seven years before a full consulate opened in February, said “(ethanol) is the single largest opening for increased trade between Georgia and Brazil.”

Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is produced from the starches in plant matter and blended with gasoline to power cars more cleanly and cheaply than fossil fuels.

In the U.S., ethanol is often made from corn, drawing criticism from some who worry about adverse global economic effects of using food products for fuel. Most of Brazil’s ethanol comes from its vast sugarcane crops. According to Mr. Perry, sugar is one of the most efficient feedstocks for ethanol production.

Researchers also have recently figured out how to make ethanol from cellulose, the basic structural component of plant cell walls. This opens up a new opportunity in the ethanol industry for states like Georgia that have a surplus of forest resources to use as feedstocks.

Range Fuels LLC of Broomfield, Colo., is building the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Soperton, Ga., to take advantage of the state’s abundance of pine trees and forest waste products.

The company aims to produce 20 million gallons of ethanol after its first phase of construction is completed in 2009.

Though a small step, officials hope it portends Georgia’s ascension as a premier player in the ethanol industry.

“There is no reason why Georgia should not be for ethanol what Texas is for gasoline,” Mr. Perry said, arguing that the Port of Savannah should be the main entry point for Brazilian ethanol.

Even with a tax on imported ethanol of $0.54 per gallon, the U.S. imported almost 190 million gallons of ethanol from Brazil in 2007, according to the Renewable Fuels Association’s Web site. That’s about one gallon for every citizen of Brazil, the world’s fifth most populous nation.

That number would increase drastically if the tariff were removed, Mr. Perry said, and companies like Range Fuels would remain competitive because ethanol sources primarily compete against petroleum, not other types of ethanol.

Mr. Teixeira said government policies from both countries must promote more business participation to make ethanol viable on a large scale.

“We need to put the private sector more together and that is something that we are trying to do,” he said.

While the U.S. is the world’s largest ethanol producer, it consumes more fuel domestically, allowing Brazil to become the world’s largest exporter of ethanol with a 37 percent market share.

The two countries make 70 percent of the world’s ethanol and have worked together to encourage and facilitate production in smaller countries, Mr. Teixeira said.

But despite the current collaboration, renewables have not penetrated the market in the U.S. like in Brazil. The ratio of petroleum-based fuels to renewables used in Brazil is now 55 percent to 45, compared with 90/10 in the U.S.

All cars can run on gasoline blended with ethanol in varying ratios, and the fuel sold at most U.S. gas stations contains up to 10 percent ethanol.

Most cars manufactured in Brazil are flexible fuel cars that can use pure gasoline, 100 percent ethanol or any blend of the two.

This translates into a win-win situation at the pump for Brazilians, who can choose their fuel based on market conditions.

Georgia has provided partial funding for 21 stations that applied last year convert or build pumps to dispense E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline for which a flex-fuel car is needed. As of July 16, 11 of those have opened and the remainder will open this fall.

Mr. Teixeira is one of numerous government officials, dignitaries and businesspeople that visited Atlanta this week for the Americas Competitiveness Forum at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta downtown, where he participated in a panel on renewable energy.

He was joined at the breakfast by Reginaldo Arcuri, president of Brazil’s Agency of Industrial Development.

Mr. Teixeira and Mr. Arcuri mentioned Georgia’s food processing and transportation industries as other areas for potential collaboration.

Their extensive presentation on macroeconomic data aimed to highlight the health of the Brazilian economy for investors.

Brazil saw more than 90 percent growth in foreign direct investment from 2006 to 2007, up from $18.7 billion to $34.3 billion.

“This is not something that we as good patriots are telling you,” said Mr. Arcuri, arguing that Brazil’s stability has been widely recognized in international financial news services.

“We are not seeing a bubble, and the result of that is that Brazil is one of the countries that was least affected by your economic crisis,” Mr. Teixeira said.

Brazil’s government is spending $300 billion over three years on infrastructure improvements. Nearly half of that money, $137 billion, will be spent on energy-related projects.

A road show promoting the program in the U.S. last month started in Atlanta.
Adalnio Senna Ganem, Brazil’s consul general in Atlanta, joined attendees at the breakfast meeting.

This story is courtesy of Global Atlanta (full story).