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 says the growing dependence on sustainable liquid fuels will also increase food rates.
The author says that biodiesel made from grease was even worse for the climate than nonrenewable fuel sources.
Under EU law, external, biofuels are set to comprise 5% of the UK's transportation fuel from today.
Since 2008, the UK has required fuel suppliers to include a growing proportion of sustainable products into the fuel 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 study brought out for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level implies that UK motorists will have to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year since of the higher cost of fuel at the pump and from filling regularly as biofuels have a lower energy material.
The report state that if the UK is to meet its responsibilities to EU energy targets the expense to vehicle drivers is most likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.
"It is difficult to find any great news," Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, told BBC News.
"Biofuels increase costs and they are a really costly method to decrease carbon emissions," he said.
The EU biofuel mandates are also having extremely distorting effects in the marketplace. Because utilized cooking oil is related to as one of the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the cost for it has risen quickly. Rob Bailey states that towards completion of 2012 it was more pricey than refined palm oil.
"It develops a financial incentive to purchase refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then sell it at revenue,"
"It is insane but the incentives exist."
There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is creating more environment problems than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into cars the larger the deficit developed in the edible oils market. This had lead to increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, frequently produced on deforested land.
"Once you consider these indirect results, biofuels made from vegetable oils really result worldwide in more emissions than you would obtain from utilizing diesel in the first place," stated Rob Bailey.
"Plus you are asking vehicle drivers to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is a totally unreasonable method."
Biofuel benefits
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external throughout the EU, said it was conscious of the problems brought on by the required. But it believes that biofuels have lots of positives.
"Blaming biofuels for all the troubles on the planet is a bit too exaggerated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, task supervisor at the EBB.
"It has actually brought lots of advantages. It has improved the security of our diesel
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Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'even Worse than Fossil Fuels'
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