Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'even worse than fossil fuels'
The UK's "illogical" usage of biofuels will cost drivers around ₤ 460 million over the next 12 months, a think tank states.
A report by Chatham House, external states the growing reliance on sustainable liquid fuels will also increase food rates.
The author says that biodiesel made from veggie oil 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 actually required fuel suppliers to add a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the petrol and diesel they supply. These biofuels are mainly ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, utilized cooking oil and tallow.
Deep fried fuel
But research study performed for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level implies that will need to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year since of the higher expense of fuel at the pump and from filling more frequently as biofuels have a lower energy material.
The report say that if the UK is to meet its responsibilities to EU energy targets the expense to drivers is likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per annum by 2020.
"It is hard to discover any good news," Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, informed BBC News.
"Biofuels increase expenses and they are an extremely expensive method to reduce carbon emissions," he said.
The EU biofuel mandates are also having extremely distorting results in the market. Because used cooking oil is considered as among the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the price for it has actually risen quickly. Rob Bailey says that towards the end of 2012 it was more expensive than refined palm oil.
"It produces a financial incentive to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and after that offer it at profit,"
"It is insane however the incentives exist."
There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is developing more environment issues than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is put into vehicles the bigger 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 results, biofuels made from veggie 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 a totally illogical method."
Biofuel advantages
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external across the EU, stated it knew the issues brought on by the mandate. But it thinks that biofuels have numerous positives.
"Blaming biofuels for all the troubles worldwide is a bit too overstated," said Isabelle Maurizi, project manager at the EBB.
"It has actually brought great deals of advantages. It has enhanced the security of our diesel
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Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'Worse than Nonrenewable Fuel Source'
Bruno Easterbrook edited this page 7 days ago