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

The UK's "unreasonable" usage of biofuels will cost motorists around ₤ 460 million over the next 12 months, a think tank states.

A report by Chatham House, external says the growing reliance on sustainable liquid fuels will also increase food costs.

The author says that biodiesel made from grease was even worse for the climate 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 petrol and diesel they supply. These biofuels are mainly ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, utilized cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research performed for Chatham House says that reaching the 5% level indicates that UK drivers will need to pay an extra ₤ 460m a year since of the greater cost of fuel at the pump and from filling up more frequently as biofuels have a content.

The report state that if the UK is to meet its commitments to EU energy targets the expense to vehicle drivers is most likely to increase to ₤ 1.3 bn per year by 2020.

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

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

The EU biofuel mandates are likewise having extremely distorting effects in the market. Because utilized cooking oil is regarded as among the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the cost for it has actually increased rapidly. Rob Bailey states that towards the end of 2012 it was more expensive than refined palm oil.

"It creates a financial incentive to purchase refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then offer it at revenue,"

"It is crazy however the incentives exist."

There are likewise worries that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is developing more environment problems than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is put into cars and trucks the bigger the deficit created in the edible oils market. This had actually lead to 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 in fact result worldwide in more emissions than you would get from utilizing diesel in the very first location," said Rob Bailey.

"Plus you are asking motorists to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is an entirely irrational technique."

Biofuel benefits

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external throughout the EU, stated it understood the problems caused by the mandate. But it thinks that biofuels have lots of positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the problems in the world is a bit too exaggerated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, task supervisor at the EBB.

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