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

The UK’s “unreasonable” usage of biofuels will cost vehicle drivers 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 veggie oil 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 needed fuel suppliers to include a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the fuel and diesel they supply. These biofuels are mainly ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research study carried out for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level implies that UK motorists will have to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year since of the greater expense of fuel at the pump and from filling more often as biofuels have a lower energy content.

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

“It is hard to find any good news,” Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, informed BBC News.

“Biofuels increase costs and they are an extremely pricey way to reduce carbon emissions,” he stated.

The EU biofuel mandates are also having extremely distorting impacts in the market. Because utilized cooking oil is regarded as one of the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the cost for it has risen rapidly. Rob Bailey says that towards the end of 2012 it was more expensive than refined palm oil.

“It creates a monetary incentive to purchase refined palm oil, prepare a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and after that sell it at earnings,”

“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 issues than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is put into cars the larger the deficit produced in the edible oils market. This had actually caused increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, typically produced on deforested land.

“Once you consider these indirect effects, biofuels made from veggie oils in fact result worldwide in more emissions than you would obtain from using diesel in the very first location,” stated Rob Bailey.

“Plus you are asking vehicle drivers to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is an entirely irrational strategy.”

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external across the EU, stated it knew the problems brought on by the required. But it believes that biofuels have numerous positives.

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

“It has brought great deals of advantages. It has improved the security of our diesel