ILAR Research Scholar to Join Harvard Fellowship
Patricia Guardabassi becomes Giorgio Ruffolo Research Fellow in Sustainability Science
04/03/2012
Patricia Guardabassi, Research Scholar at the IR/PS Laboratory on International Law and Regulation (ILAR), has been accepted to be a Giorgio Ruffolo Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
Guardabassi recieved her PhD in science from the University of São Paulo, Brazil in 2011, where her research focused on the sustainability of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol production. She is also a researcher at the Brazilian Reference Center on Biomass, developing studies in the utilization of different types of biomass as energy resources.
Prior to pursuing her doctoral degree, Guardabassi worked as a chemical engineer. She holds a master's degree in energy from the University of São Paulo, her dissertation including an analysis of the main existing barriers to the development of bioethanol industry in developing countries, especially those located in Latin America and Africa. She has published papers and chapters on the sustainability of biofuels production in Brazil.
Guardabassi's project proposal focuses on the impact of extensive use of fossil fuels and alternative energy to reduce their emissions in developing countries. Developed countries have adopted of renewable energy for power production and biofuels in the transportation sector to establish targets for the use of clean fuels. However, many countries do not produce volumes of biofuels sufficient to supply the domestic market. Consequently, the international trade of biofuels has been growing and more producing countries are likely to be part of it. The regions with greater aptitude for the cultivation of rain-fed sugarcane are located in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, but these regions produce small amounts of ethanol due to the existence of barriers. The main objective of the research is to investigate how the production of ethanol could be sustainably introduced in African countries, based on the success of the Brazilian introduction of sugarcane ethanol.
