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

The UK’s “illogical” use of biofuels will cost drivers around ₤ 460 million over the next 12 months, a think tank states.

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

The author says that biodiesel made from grease 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 transport fuel from today.

Since 2008, the UK has required fuel suppliers to include a growing proportion of sustainable products into the petrol 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 performed for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level suggests that UK drivers will have to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year since of the higher cost of fuel at the pump and from filling more frequently as biofuels have a lower energy material.

The report state that if the UK is to satisfy its obligations to EU energy targets the cost to vehicle drivers is likely to increase to ₤ 1.3 bn per annum by 2020.

“It is tough to discover any great news,” Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, informed BBC News.

“Biofuels increase expenses and they are a really expensive way to decrease carbon emissions,” he said.

The EU biofuel mandates are also having extremely distorting results in the marketplace. Because used cooking oil is concerned as among the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the price for it has actually risen rapidly. 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, prepare a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and after that sell it at revenue,”

“It is crazy however the incentives are there.”

There are likewise worries that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is creating more than it fixes. The more fuel of this type that is put into automobiles the larger 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 effects, 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 drivers to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is a totally unreasonable technique.”

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external across the EU, stated it understood the issues triggered by the mandate. But it thinks that biofuels have lots of positives.

“Blaming biofuels for all the troubles worldwide is a bit too exaggerated,” stated Isabelle Maurizi, task manager at the EBB.

“It has brought lots of advantages. It has actually improved the security of our diesel