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

The UK's "unreasonable" 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 dependence on sustainable liquid fuels will likewise increase food prices.

The author states that biodiesel made from grease was even worse for the environment 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 needed fuel providers to include a growing percentage of sustainable products into the petrol and diesel they provide. These biofuels are mainly ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research performed for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level suggests that UK drivers will need to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year due to the fact that of the higher 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 satisfy its commitments to EU energy targets the expense to vehicle drivers is most likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per annum by 2020.

"It is difficult to find any excellent news," Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, informed BBC News.

"Biofuels increase expenses and they are a really pricey method to decrease carbon emissions," he stated.

The EU biofuel requireds are likewise having extremely distorting effects in the marketplace. Because utilized cooking oil is considered as among the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the cost for it has risen rapidly. Rob Bailey states that towards the end of 2012 it was more expensive than refined palm oil.

"It creates a financial reward to purchase refined palm oil, prepare a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then sell it at earnings,"

"It is crazy however the incentives exist."

There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is creating more environment problems than it resolves. The more fuel of this type that is put into vehicles the bigger the deficit created 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 account these indirect effects, biofuels made from vegetable oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would get from using diesel in the very first place," said Rob Bailey.

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

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external throughout the EU, stated it knew the problems brought on by the required. But it believes that biofuels have lots of positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the difficulties worldwide is a bit too exaggerated," said Isabelle Maurizi, project supervisor at the EBB.

"It has actually brought great deals of advantages. It has actually improved the security of our diesel