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

The UK's "unreasonable" usage of biofuels will cost 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 says that biodiesel made from vegetable oil was even worse for the climate than fossil fuels.

Under EU law, external, biofuels are set to comprise 5% of the UK's transport fuel from today.

Since 2008, the UK has required fuel providers to add a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the petrol and diesel they provide. These biofuels are mainly ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, utilized cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research brought out for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level suggests that UK drivers will have to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year because of the greater expense of fuel at the pump and from filling up more frequently as biofuels have a lower energy content.

The report state that if the UK is to fulfill its commitments to EU energy targets the expense to vehicle drivers is most likely to increase to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.

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

"Biofuels increase expenses and they are a very costly way to decrease carbon emissions," he stated.

The EU biofuel requireds are also having hugely distorting impacts in the marketplace. Because utilized cooking oil is considered one of the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the price for it has increased rapidly. Rob Bailey states that towards completion of 2012 it was more pricey than refined palm oil.

"It produces a monetary 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 however the incentives exist."

There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is developing more climate problems 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 actually lead to increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often 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 first location," stated Rob Bailey.

"Plus you are asking drivers to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is a completely illogical technique."

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external across the EU, stated it knew the problems triggered by the mandate. But it thinks that biofuels have numerous positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the troubles in the world is a bit too overstated," said Isabelle Maurizi, project supervisor at the EBB.

"It has brought great deals of advantages. It has enhanced the security of our diesel; it has actually minimized EU reliance on animal feed imports, thanks to the rapeseed we grow for biodiesel."

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

As the UK strikes the 5% of liquid fuels mark, the federal government faces some tough decisions on how to move on on this issue as it deals with tripling the costs for drivers by 2020.

Insiders recommend its preference would be to attempt and get agreement in Brussels on the effects of indirect expenses which might constrain what counts as biofuel. However getting contract from countries with powerful farming sectors who benefit from the current arrangement will be hard.

"When you have a lobby that includes the farming sector and the oil sector it is really tough for Governments to make a U-turn," stated .

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