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

The UK's "irrational" 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 dependence on sustainable liquid fuels will likewise rates.

The author states that biodiesel made from grease was 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 actually needed fuel providers to add a growing proportion of sustainable products into the gas 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 brought out for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level means that UK vehicle drivers will have to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year since of the greater cost of fuel at the pump and from filling up more frequently as biofuels have a lower energy material.

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

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

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

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

"It produces a financial reward to purchase refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then sell it at profit,"

"It is crazy however the incentives exist."

There are also frets 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 cars the larger the deficit developed in the edible oils market. This had resulted in increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, typically produced on deforested land.

"Once you take into consideration these indirect effects, biofuels made from vegetable oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would obtain from utilizing diesel in the first place," stated Rob Bailey.

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

Biofuel benefits

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external throughout the EU, stated it understood the issues brought on by the mandate. But it believes that biofuels have many positives.

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

"It has brought lots of advantages. It has improved the security of our diesel