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

The UK's "unreasonable" use of biofuels will cost vehicle drivers 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 increase food prices.

The author says that biodiesel made from grease was worse for the 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 required fuel providers to include a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the fuel 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 brought out for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level implies that UK vehicle drivers will need to pay an extra ₤ 460m a year due to the fact that of the greater expense of fuel at the pump and from filling more often as biofuels have a lower energy content.

The report say that if the UK is to meet its obligations to EU energy targets the cost to vehicle drivers is likely to increase to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.

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

"Biofuels increase expenses and they are an extremely expensive way to reduce carbon emissions," he said.

The EU biofuel requireds are also having extremely distorting results in the marketplace. Because utilized cooking oil is regarded as one of the most sustainable kinds of biodiesel, the cost for it has increased quickly. Rob Bailey states that towards completion of 2012 it was more pricey than refined palm oil.

"It develops a monetary incentive to purchase refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and after that sell it at revenue,"

"It is insane but the incentives are there."

There are likewise frets that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is creating more climate issues than it fixes. The more fuel of this type that is put into vehicles the larger the deficit created in the edible oils market. This had resulted in increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often 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 obtain from utilizing diesel in the first location," said Rob Bailey.

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

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external throughout the EU, said it was mindful 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 exaggerated," said Isabelle Maurizi, job supervisor at the EBB.

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