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 states the growing reliance on sustainable liquid fuels will likewise increase food costs.

The author says that biodiesel made from grease was worse for the than nonrenewable fuel sources.

Under EU law, external, biofuels are set to make up 5% of the UK's transportation fuel from today.

Since 2008, the UK has actually required fuel providers to include a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the gas and diesel they supply. These biofuels are generally ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research carried out for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level implies that UK vehicle drivers will need to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year because of the greater cost 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 fulfill its commitments to EU energy targets the cost to drivers is likely to rise to ₤ 1.3 bn per annum by 2020.

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

"Biofuels increase costs and they are an extremely expensive method to decrease carbon emissions," he said.

The EU biofuel requireds are also having hugely distorting impacts in the marketplace. Because utilized cooking oil is considered one of the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the price for it has increased rapidly. Rob Bailey states that towards the end of 2012 it was more costly than refined palm oil.

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

"It is insane however the incentives exist."

There are likewise frets that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is developing more climate issues than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into cars and trucks the larger the deficit developed 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 account these indirect results, biofuels made from veggie oils in fact result worldwide in more emissions than you would receive 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 completely illogical strategy."

Biofuel advantages

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

"Blaming biofuels for all the problems worldwide is a bit too exaggerated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, project manager at the EBB.

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