Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'even worse than fossil fuels'
The UK's "irrational" usage of biofuels will cost motorists 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 costs.
The author states that biodiesel made from grease was even worse for the environment than fossil fuels.
Under EU law, external, biofuels are set to comprise 5% of the UK's transportation fuel from today.
Since 2008, the UK has needed fuel suppliers to include a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the petrol and diesel they supply. These biofuels are primarily ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, utilized cooking oil and tallow.
Deep fried fuel
But research performed for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level means that UK vehicle drivers will need to pay an extra ₤ 460m a year because of the greater cost of fuel at the pump and from filling regularly as biofuels have a lower energy material.
The report say that if the UK is to satisfy its obligations to EU energy targets the cost to drivers is most likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.
"It is difficult to discover any good news," Rob Bailey, senior research study fellow at Chatham House, informed BBC News.
"Biofuels increase costs and they are a very pricey method to decrease carbon emissions," he said.
The EU biofuel mandates are also having extremely distorting impacts in the marketplace. Because utilized cooking oil is related to as among the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the price for it has risen quickly. Rob Bailey states that towards completion of 2012 it was more expensive than refined palm oil.
"It develops a financial reward to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then sell it at profit,"
"It is crazy but the rewards are there."
There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is producing more climate problems than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is put into vehicles the larger the deficit developed in the edible oils market. This had resulted in increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, frequently produced on deforested land.
"Once you consider these indirect effects, biofuels made from vegetable oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would receive from using diesel in the first location," said Rob Bailey.
"Plus you are asking drivers to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is an entirely illogical method."
Biofuel benefits
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external throughout the EU, said it understood the issues triggered by the required. But it believes that biofuels have numerous positives.
"Blaming biofuels for all the problems on the planet is a bit too exaggerated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, project manager at the EBB.
"It has actually brought lots of advantages. It has actually improved the security of our diesel
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Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'Worse than Nonrenewable Fuel Source'
Kristina Xiong edited this page 7 days ago