Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'worse than nonrenewable fuel sources'
The UK's "unreasonable" usage of biofuels will cost motorists 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 likewise increase food prices.
The author states that biodiesel made from grease was worse for the climate than fossil fuels.
Under EU law, external, biofuels are set to make up 5% of the UK's transportation fuel from today.
Since 2008, the UK has required fuel providers to add a growing percentage of sustainable materials into the petrol and diesel they provide. These biofuels are primarily ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow.
Deep fried fuel
But research study carried out for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level suggests that UK drivers will need to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year since of the higher 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 satisfy its commitments to EU the cost to motorists is most likely to increase 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 expenses and they are an extremely costly way to lower carbon emissions," he said.
The EU biofuel mandates are also having extremely distorting impacts in the market. Because used cooking oil is related to as among the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the cost for it has actually risen quickly. Rob Bailey says that towards the end of 2012 it was more pricey than refined palm oil.
"It develops a financial reward to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and then offer it at profit,"
"It is insane but the rewards exist."
There are likewise frets that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is developing more environment problems than it resolves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into cars the larger the deficit produced 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 consideration these indirect effects, biofuels made from veggie oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would obtain from utilizing diesel in the very first place," said Rob Bailey.
"Plus you are asking motorists to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is a totally unreasonable method."
Biofuel advantages
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external across the EU, said it was aware of the issues triggered by the required. But it believes that biofuels have many positives.
"Blaming biofuels for all the difficulties worldwide is a bit too overstated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, task supervisor at the EBB.
"It has brought lots of benefits. It has actually improved the security of our diesel
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Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'Worse than Fossil Fuels'
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