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Biofuels: ‘Irrational’ and ‘even Worse than Fossil Fuels’
Biofuels: ‘Irrational’ and ‘even worse than fossil fuels’
The UK’s “unreasonable” use of biofuels will cost motorists around ₤ 460 million over the next 12 months, a think tank says.
A report by Chatham House, external states the growing reliance on sustainable liquid fuels will likewise increase food prices.
The author states that biodiesel made from grease was worse for the environment than fossil fuels.
Under EU law, external, biofuels are set to comprise 5% of the UK’s transport fuel from today.
Since 2008, the UK has needed fuel suppliers to add a growing proportion of sustainable products 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 performed for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level indicates 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 material.
The report say that if the UK is to satisfy its commitments to EU energy targets the expense to drivers is likely to increase to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.
“It is hard to find any excellent news,” Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, told BBC News.
“Biofuels increase expenses and they are a very expensive method to lower carbon emissions,” he said.
The EU biofuel mandates are also having extremely distorting impacts in the market. Because used cooking oil is considered among the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the cost for it has increased quickly. Rob Bailey says that towards the end of 2012 it was more expensive than refined palm oil.
“It produces a financial reward to purchase refined palm oil, prepare a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then offer it at profit,”
“It is insane but the rewards exist.”
There are likewise stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is more climate issues than it fixes. The more fuel of this type that is taken into cars and trucks the larger the deficit created in the edible oils market. This had caused increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often produced on deforested land.
“Once you consider 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,” stated Rob Bailey.
“Plus you are asking motorists to pay more for the fuel – it makes no sense, it is an entirely illogical technique.”
Biofuel advantages
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external throughout the EU, said it was conscious of the issues brought on by the mandate. But it believes that biofuels have many positives.
“Blaming biofuels for all the difficulties in the world is a bit too overstated,” said Isabelle Maurizi, job supervisor at the EBB.
“It has actually brought great deals of benefits. It has enhanced the security of our diesel; it has actually minimized EU reliance 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 federal government faces some difficult choices on how to progress on this concern as it deals with tripling the expenses for vehicle drivers by 2020.
Insiders suggest its preference would be to try and get contract in Brussels on the impacts of indirect costs which may constrain what counts as biofuel. However getting agreement from nations with powerful agricultural sectors who gain from the existing arrangement will be difficult.
“When you have a lobby that includes the farming sector and the oil sector it is extremely difficult for Governments to make a U-turn,” said Rob Bailey.
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