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

The UK's "illogical" use of biofuels will cost motorists 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 rates.

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

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

Since 2008, the UK has needed fuel suppliers to add a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the gas and diesel they provide. These biofuels are generally ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research carried out for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level suggests that UK drivers will have to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year due to the fact that of the greater cost of fuel at the pump and from filling up regularly as biofuels have a lower energy material.

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

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

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

The EU biofuel requireds are also having extremely distorting impacts in the market. Because utilized cooking oil is considered one of the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the cost for it has increased quickly. Rob Bailey says that towards completion of 2012 it was more costly than refined palm oil.

"It creates a monetary reward to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then sell it at earnings,"

"It is insane but the incentives are there."

There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is developing more climate problems than it resolves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into vehicles the larger the deficit produced in the edible oils market. This had actually resulted in increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, frequently produced on deforested land.

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

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

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external throughout the EU, stated it knew the issues brought on by the required. But it thinks that biofuels have many positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the difficulties on the planet is a bit too overstated," said Isabelle Maurizi, project manager at the EBB.

"It has actually brought lots of advantages. It has actually enhanced the security of our diesel; it has actually reduced EU reliance 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 federal government deals with some difficult decisions on how to move forward on this problem as it faces tripling the expenses for drivers by 2020.

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

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

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