Brazil, Columbia (from sugar cane) and United States (from maize) have developed ethanol fuel programs. Ethanol can be produced from a variety of other crops e.g. sugar beet, sorghum, switch grass, barley, hemp, kenaf, potatoes, cassava, sunflower and cellulose waste. Large scale production of ethanol requires considerable supply of cultivable lands with fertile soils and water. Therefore, it is not ideal for the densely populated Europe to develop ethanol on a large scale basis. However, smaller scale of ethanol production can be made from stalks, wastes, clippings, straw, corn cobs and other farm waste.

Brazil
   Brazil is independent of foreign oil as it is using ethanol made from sugar cane. It is the largest producer and consumer of ethanol fuel in the world and has adopted an extensive domestic ethanol fuel industry upon sugar cane since l980s. Producing 4 billion gallons of ethanol per year, Brazil maintains a positive (+34%) energy balance by burning the waste from sugar cane.

Columbia
   In Columbia, ethanol fuel program was started in 2002 when the government imposed mandatory oxygen enrichment in gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide emissions. Later, government exempted biomass - derived ethanol from some taxes on gasoline, making ethanol cheaper than gasoline. Besides government control on prices of ethanol and gasoline, a biodiesel program was set up to oxygenate diesel fuel and produce a renewable fuel from vegetable oil. The First fuel ethanol plant in Columbia began production in 2005 with an output of 300,000 litres a day in Cauca region. By March, 2006, five plants in Cauca produced l,050,000 litres per day. Columbia aims to produce by 2007 2,500,000 litres per day to meet the goal of adding l0% ethanol to the gasoline.

U.S.A.
   In U.S., only 685 stations out of a total of l65,000 carry E85 pumps and are available mainly in the Mid West. Greater availability is therefore required if a nation wide adoption policy is implemented. However, the U.S. government has, through its legislation and its economic aid to the industry, heavily promoted the ethanol industry in U.S. The Energy Tax Act of l978 authorised an excise tax exemption for bio fuels, chiefly gasohol which amounted to l.4 billion. In addition, U.S. federal program guaranteed loans for construction of ethanol plants. In l986, U.S. government gave free corn to ethanol producers. In August, 2005, U.S. President signed a comprehensive energy bill which included a requirement to increase the production of ethanol and biodiesel from 4 to 7.5 billion US gallons within next l0 years.