Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'even 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 states.

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

The author says that biodiesel made from veggie oil was worse for the climate 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 suppliers to include a growing percentage 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 study carried out for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level suggests that UK motorists will have to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year because of the greater expense of fuel at the pump and from filling up more often as biofuels have a lower energy material.

The report state that if the UK is to meet its responsibilities to EU energy targets the expense to motorists is most likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per annum by 2020.

"It is hard to discover any great news," Rob Bailey, senior research study fellow at Chatham House, told BBC News.

"Biofuels increase costs and they are an extremely expensive way to minimize carbon emissions," he stated.

The EU biofuel mandates are likewise having extremely distorting results in the marketplace. Because used cooking oil is considered one of the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the rate for it has increased rapidly. Rob Bailey says that towards completion of 2012 it was more pricey than refined palm oil.

"It develops a monetary incentive to purchase refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and after that sell it at earnings,"

"It is crazy however the incentives are there."

There are likewise frets that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is creating more environment problems than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into cars and trucks the bigger the deficit developed in the edible oils market. This had lead to increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often produced on deforested land.

"Once you consider these indirect results, biofuels made from veggie oils really result worldwide in more emissions than you would get from utilizing 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 an entirely illogical strategy."

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external throughout the EU, said it was conscious of the issues caused by the mandate. But it believes that biofuels have numerous positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the troubles worldwide is a bit too overstated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, job supervisor at the EBB.

"It has brought lots of benefits. It has actually enhanced the security of our diesel; it has actually reduced 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 hits the 5% of liquid fuels mark, the federal government deals with some tough decisions on how to move forward on this problem as it deals with tripling the expenses for vehicle drivers by 2020.

Insiders suggest its preference would be to try and get agreement in Brussels on the impacts of indirect costs which might constrain what counts as biofuel. However getting contract from countries with effective agricultural sectors who take advantage of the current plan will be challenging.

"When you have a lobby which consists of the farming sector and the oil sector it is very hard for Governments to make a U-turn," said Rob Bailey.

County begins 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