Biofuels: ‘Irrational’ and ‘even Worse than Nonrenewable Fuel Source’

Biofuels: ‘Irrational’ and ‘worse than nonrenewable fuel sources’

The UK’s “unreasonable” usage of biofuels will cost vehicle drivers around ₤ 460 million over the next 12 months, a think tank says.

A report by Chatham House, external says the growing dependence on sustainable liquid fuels will likewise increase food rates.

The author says that biodiesel made from veggie oil was even worse for the environment than nonrenewable fuel sources.

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

Since 2008, the UK has required fuel providers to include a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the fuel and diesel they provide. These biofuels are mainly ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research performed for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level means that UK drivers will need to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year since of the higher cost of fuel at the pump and from filling up regularly as biofuels have a lower energy content.

The report state that if the UK is to fulfill its commitments to EU energy targets the cost to motorists is most likely to increase 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 costs and they are an extremely costly way to lower carbon emissions,” he stated.

The EU biofuel mandates are likewise having hugely distorting effects in the market. Because used cooking oil is considered one of the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the rate for it has risen quickly. Rob Bailey states that towards the end of 2012 it was more pricey than refined palm oil.

“It creates a monetary incentive to purchase refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and then sell it at revenue,”

“It is crazy but the rewards are there.”

There are also worries that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is creating more environment issues than it fixes. The more fuel of this type that is put into automobiles the bigger the deficit produced in the edible oils market. This had lead to increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, typically produced on deforested land.

“Once you take into account these indirect impacts, biofuels made from veggie oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would get from using diesel in the first location,” said Rob Bailey.

“Plus you are asking motorists to pay more for the fuel – it makes no sense, it is a totally unreasonable technique.”

Biofuel benefits

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external across the EU, said it understood the problems caused by the required. But it believes that biofuels have lots of positives.

“Blaming biofuels for all the problems worldwide is a bit too overstated,” said Isabelle Maurizi, task manager at the EBB.

“It has actually brought lots of advantages. It has enhanced the security of our diesel; it has actually lowered EU dependence 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 the 5% of liquid fuels mark, the government faces some difficult choices on how to move on on this issue as it deals with tripling the expenses for motorists by 2020.

Insiders recommend its preference would be to attempt and get agreement in Brussels on the effects of indirect expenses which might constrain what counts as biofuel. However getting arrangement from countries with powerful agricultural sectors who gain from the present plan will be challenging.

“When you have a lobby which consists of the agricultural sector and the oil sector it is really tough for Governments to make a U-turn,” said Rob Bailey.

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