Biofuels: ‘Irrational’ and ‘even Worse than Fossil Fuels’

Biofuels: ‘Irrational’ and ‘worse than fossil fuels’

The UK’s “illogical” usage of biofuels will cost 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 veggie oil was even worse for the climate than fossil fuels.

Under EU law, external, biofuels are set to make up 5% of the fuel from today.

Since 2008, the UK has needed fuel suppliers to add a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the fuel and diesel they supply. These biofuels are generally ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research carried out for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level implies that UK vehicle drivers will need to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year because of the higher cost of fuel at the pump and from filling more frequently as biofuels have a lower energy content.

The report state that if the UK is to satisfy its commitments to EU energy targets the cost to drivers is likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.

“It is hard to discover any good news,” Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, told BBC News.

“Biofuels increase expenses and they are an extremely pricey method to decrease carbon emissions,” he stated.

The EU biofuel requireds are likewise having extremely distorting impacts in the marketplace. Because used cooking oil is related to as among the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the price for it has increased quickly. Rob Bailey says that towards the end of 2012 it was more pricey than refined palm oil.

“It produces a financial incentive to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and then sell it at earnings,”

“It is crazy however the incentives are there.”

There are also frets that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is developing more climate problems than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is put into vehicles the larger the deficit produced in the edible oils market. This had lead to increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often produced on deforested land.

“Once you take into account these indirect results, biofuels made from vegetable oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would receive from using diesel in the first place,” said Rob Bailey.

“Plus you are asking vehicle drivers to pay more for the fuel – it makes no sense, it is a completely illogical method.”

Biofuel benefits

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external across the EU, said it knew the issues brought on by the mandate. But it believes that biofuels have numerous positives.

“Blaming biofuels for all the troubles on the planet is a bit too exaggerated,” said Isabelle Maurizi, project manager at the EBB.

“It has brought great deals of benefits. It has enhanced the security of our diesel; it has minimized EU reliance on animal feed imports, thanks to the rapeseed we grow for biodiesel.”

“If there was no biodiesel farmers would simply make their land idle – no food, no feed!”

As the UK strikes the 5% of liquid fuels mark, the government deals with some challenging choices on how to move on on this concern as it faces tripling the expenses for motorists by 2020.

Insiders recommend its choice would be to try and get contract in Brussels on the effects of indirect expenses which might constrain what counts as biofuel. However getting contract from countries with powerful agricultural sectors who take advantage of the existing arrangement will be hard.

“When you have a lobby which includes the farming sector and the oil sector it is very hard for Governments to make a U-turn,” stated Rob Bailey.

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