Biofuels: ‘Irrational’ and ‘worse than nonrenewable fuel sources'

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 states the growing dependence on sustainable liquid fuels will likewise increase food prices.

The author says that biodiesel made from veggie oil was even worse for the climate than nonrenewable fuel sources.

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 providers to include a growing percentage of sustainable products into the fuel and diesel they provide. These 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 suggests that UK motorists will have to pay an extra ₤ 460m a year because of the greater cost of fuel at the pump and from filling more frequently as biofuels have a lower energy content.

The report say that if the UK is to fulfill its obligations to EU energy targets the expense to motorists is most likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per annum by 2020.

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

"Biofuels increase costs and they are a really costly method to minimize carbon emissions,” he said.

The EU biofuel mandates are also having hugely distorting results in the marketplace. Because utilized cooking oil is considered as among the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the rate for it has actually risen quickly. Rob Bailey says that towards completion of 2012 it was more expensive than refined palm oil.

"It develops a monetary incentive to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and after that sell it at revenue,“

"It is crazy but the rewards exist.“

There are likewise stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is creating more environment issues than it resolves. The more fuel of this type that is put into automobiles the bigger the deficit developed in the edible oils market. This had caused increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often produced on deforested land.

"Once you take into consideration these indirect impacts, biofuels made from veggie oils really result worldwide in more emissions than you would obtain from using diesel in the first location,” said Rob Bailey.

"Plus you are asking motorists to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is a totally unreasonable technique.“

Biofuel benefits

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external across the EU, said it was aware of the issues triggered by the required. But it believes that biofuels have numerous positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the problems worldwide is a bit too overstated,” stated Isabelle Maurizi, task manager at the EBB.

"It has actually brought great deals of benefits. It has enhanced the security of our diesel