The Sugar and ethanol industry has an interesting net energy balance if the two products are produced using resources from the same plant. These two industries are working in collaboration and are putting back into the environment what they have taken and are moving towards the goal of using renewable resources in their methods of production and farming. In Dwangwa, the ethanol company is in the backyard of the Illovo Sugar mill. Cane is hauled from the fields to the mill and crushed for juice extraction. The bagasse realised from this process is used as fuel for the boilers that produce steam for sugar production. The sugar factory also supplies steam to ETHCO when they have surplus bagasse. This year, Illovo promises to supply most of the steam that ETHCO needs due to the integration of economisers in their boilers. Thjs would make the use of coal (a fossil fuel) for ETHCO’s steam production a thing of the past. The molasses produced as sugar mill effluent is a valuable downstream product which is used as ETHCO’s raw material for ethanol production. The carbon dioxide produced alongside ethanol is absorbed back into the cane fields within the estate. It is hence assumed that there is no carbon dioxide produced in ethanol production in such a set up. The vast amounts of effluent from the ethanol plant can also be used for irrigation in the cane fields due to the rich fertilising composition that it has. At the moment, irrigation is not being done but the sludge and dry solids from the effluent are used by farmers as organic manure for their gardens. As can be seen, apart from the petrol and diesel used for the machines that haul cane from the fields, these two industries are helping each other with the end goal of a new energy balance that shows care and management of the environment. Further opportunities can be explored to use ethanol for driving these machines and that will be the day when total sustainability will be realised in this sugar - ethanol set up.