Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'Worse than Nonrenewable Fuel Source'
Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'even worse than fossil fuels'
The UK's "unreasonable" usage of biofuels will cost vehicle drivers around ₤ 460 million over the next 12 months, a think tank states.
A report by Chatham House, external says the growing reliance on sustainable liquid fuels will likewise increase food rates.
The author states that biodiesel made from grease was even worse for the environment than fossil fuels.
Under EU law, external, biofuels are set to make up 5% of the UK's transport fuel from today.
Since 2008, the UK has required fuel providers to add a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the fuel and diesel they provide. These biofuels are primarily ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow.
Deep fried fuel
But research carried out for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level suggests that UK motorists will have to pay an extra ₤ 460m a year because of the greater expense of fuel at the pump and from filling more frequently as biofuels have a lower energy content.
The report say that if the UK is to satisfy its obligations to EU energy targets the cost to motorists is likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.
"It is hard to discover any excellent news," Rob Bailey, senior research study fellow at Chatham House, informed BBC News.
"Biofuels increase expenses and they are an extremely costly method to minimize carbon emissions," he said.
The EU biofuel mandates are likewise having hugely distorting effects in the market. Because used cooking oil is considered as one of the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the price for it has increased quickly. Rob Bailey says that towards completion of 2012 it was more pricey than refined palm oil.
"It develops a monetary reward to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and after that sell it at profit,"
"It is insane but the incentives exist."
There are likewise stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is producing more climate issues than it resolves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into vehicles the bigger the deficit created in the edible oils market. This had actually caused increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often produced on deforested land.
"Once you take into consideration these indirect impacts, biofuels made from vegetable oils really result worldwide in more emissions than you would receive from utilizing diesel in the very first place," said Rob Bailey.
"Plus you are asking vehicle drivers to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is a totally irrational method."
Biofuel benefits
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external across the EU, stated it knew the problems triggered by the . But it thinks that biofuels have many positives.
"Blaming biofuels for all the difficulties on the planet is a bit too overstated," said Isabelle Maurizi, job manager at the EBB.
"It has actually brought great deals of advantages. It has actually enhanced the security of our diesel; it has minimized EU dependence on animal feed imports, thanks to the rapeseed we grow for biodiesel."
"If there was no biodiesel farmers would just make their land idle - no food, no feed!"
As the UK strikes the 5% of liquid fuels mark, the government deals with some hard decisions on how to move forward on this concern as it faces tripling the costs for motorists by 2020.
Insiders suggest its preference would be to try and get agreement in Brussels on the effects of indirect costs which may constrain what counts as biofuel. However getting arrangement from nations with effective farming sectors who take advantage of the present arrangement will be tough.
"When you have a lobby that includes the farming sector and the oil sector it is very hard for Governments to make a U-turn," said Rob Bailey.
County starts recycling chip fat
8 December 2010
How does Qantas fly on chip fat? Video, 00:02:00 How does Qantas fly on chip fat?
13 April 2012
Measuring energy crops' footprint
18 October 2012