Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'worse than fossil fuels'

The UK's "illogical" use of biofuels will cost vehicle drivers 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 make up 5% of the UK's transportation fuel from today.

Since 2008, the UK has actually required fuel suppliers to add 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, utilized cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research brought out for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level means that UK vehicle drivers will need to pay an extra ₤ 460m a year due to the fact that of the higher expense of fuel at the pump and from filling more often as biofuels have a lower energy content.

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

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

"Biofuels increase costs and they are a very expensive way to reduce carbon emissions," he stated.

The EU biofuel requireds are likewise having extremely distorting results in the market. Because used cooking oil is considered as one of the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the rate for it has increased quickly. Rob Bailey states that towards the end of 2012 it was more costly than refined palm oil.

"It creates a financial reward to purchase refined palm oil, prepare a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and then sell it at revenue,"

"It is insane but the rewards exist."

There are also worries that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is developing more environment problems than it fixes. The more fuel of this type that is taken into automobiles the bigger 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 take into account these indirect results, biofuels made from veggie oils really result worldwide in more emissions than you would get from utilizing diesel in the very first place," stated Rob Bailey.

"Plus you are asking motorists to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is an entirely irrational technique."

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 lots of positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the difficulties on the planet is a bit too overstated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, task supervisor at the EBB.

"It has actually brought great deals of benefits. It has actually improved the security of our diesel; it has actually decreased EU dependence on animal feed imports, thanks to the rapeseed we grow for biodiesel."

"If there was no biodiesel farmers would simply make their land idle - no food, no feed!"

As the UK strikes the 5% of liquid fuels mark, the government deals with some difficult choices on how to progress on this issue as it deals with tripling the costs for motorists by 2020.

Insiders suggest its preference would be to try and get arrangement in Brussels on the effects of indirect expenses which might constrain what counts as biofuel. However getting agreement from nations with effective farming sectors who gain from the current arrangement will be hard.

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

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