Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'even worse than nonrenewable fuel sources'
The UK's "illogical" 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 reliance on sustainable liquid fuels will also increase food prices.
The author states that biodiesel made from grease was even 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 proportion of sustainable products into the gas 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 says that reaching the 5% level implies that UK vehicle drivers will have to pay an extra ₤ 460m a year since of the higher expense of fuel at the pump and from filling up more frequently as biofuels have a lower energy content.
The report say that if the UK is to satisfy its obligations to EU energy targets the expense to vehicle drivers is likely to increase to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.
"It is tough to find any good news," Rob Bailey, senior research study fellow at Chatham House, told BBC News.
"Biofuels increase costs and they are a really pricey method to minimize carbon emissions," he said.
The EU biofuel mandates are also having extremely distorting results in the marketplace. Because utilized cooking oil is considered among the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the rate for it has actually increased quickly. Rob Bailey says that towards the end of 2012 it was more costly than refined palm oil.
"It creates a financial incentive to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and after that sell it at profit,"
"It is insane but the rewards exist."
There are likewise worries that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is creating more climate problems than it resolves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into vehicles the larger the deficit developed in the edible oils market. This had caused increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, frequently produced on deforested land.
"Once you take into consideration these indirect impacts, biofuels made from veggie oils in fact result worldwide in more emissions than you would get from utilizing 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 a totally unreasonable strategy."
Biofuel benefits
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external throughout the EU, stated it knew the issues triggered by the required. But it believes that biofuels have lots of positives.
"Blaming biofuels for all the troubles on the planet is a bit too exaggerated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, task manager at the EBB.
"It has actually brought great deals of benefits. It has actually improved the security of our diesel
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Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'Worse than Fossil Fuels'
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