Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'even worse than fossil fuels'
The UK's "irrational" usage 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 also increase food rates.
The author says that biodiesel made from grease was worse for the environment than nonrenewable fuel sources.
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 required fuel providers to include a growing percentage of sustainable materials into the gas and diesel they provide. These biofuels are mainly ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, utilized cooking oil and tallow.
Deep fried fuel
But research study brought out for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level suggests that UK drivers will have to pay an extra ₤ 460m a year because of the greater cost of fuel at the pump and from filling more often as biofuels have a lower energy material.
The report say that if the UK is to fulfill its obligations to EU energy targets the cost to vehicle drivers is most likely to increase to ₤ 1.3 bn per annum by 2020.
"It is tough to discover any good news," Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, informed BBC News.
"Biofuels increase expenses and they are a very costly method to reduce carbon emissions," he stated.
The EU biofuel requireds are also having hugely distorting effects in the market. Because used cooking oil is regarded as one of the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the rate for it has risen rapidly. Rob Bailey states that towards completion of 2012 it was more costly than refined palm oil.
"It produces a financial incentive to purchase refined palm oil, prepare a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and after that sell it at earnings,"
"It is insane however the rewards are there."
There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is creating more climate issues than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into automobiles the bigger 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 receive from using 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 technique."
Biofuel benefits
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external across the EU, stated it was aware of the issues brought on by the mandate. But it believes that biofuels have numerous positives.
"Blaming biofuels for all the troubles in the world is a bit too exaggerated," said Isabelle Maurizi, job manager at the EBB.
"It has brought lots of advantages. It has enhanced the security of our diesel; it has actually decreased EU dependence on animal feed imports, thanks to the rapeseed we grow for biodiesel."
"If there was no biodiesel farmers would just make their land idle - no food, no feed!"
As the UK strikes the 5% of liquid fuels mark, the government faces some challenging decisions on how to move on on this issue as it faces tripling the costs for motorists by 2020.
Insiders suggest its choice would be to try and get agreement in Brussels on the effects of indirect costs which may constrain what counts as biofuel. However getting arrangement from countries with effective agricultural sectors who gain from the existing arrangement will be hard.
"When you have a lobby that includes the farming sector and the oil sector it is extremely hard for Governments to make a U-turn," stated Rob Bailey.
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