Biofuels: 'Irrational' and 'worse than fossil fuels'

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

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

The author states that biodiesel made from grease was worse for the environment than nonrenewable fuel .

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

Since 2008, the UK has needed fuel suppliers to add a growing percentage of sustainable products into the fuel and diesel they provide. These biofuels are generally ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used 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 additional ₤ 460m a year since of the greater expense of fuel at the pump and from filling up regularly as biofuels have a lower energy content.

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

"It is tough 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 method to decrease carbon emissions," he said.

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

"It creates a monetary incentive to purchase refined palm oil, prepare a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and then sell it at revenue,"

"It is insane however the rewards exist."

There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is developing more environment problems than it resolves. The more fuel of this type that is put into vehicles the bigger the deficit created in the edible oils market. This had actually resulted in increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, frequently produced on deforested land.

"Once you consider these indirect effects, biofuels made from vegetable oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would receive from using diesel in the very first place," stated Rob Bailey.

"Plus you are asking drivers to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is an entirely unreasonable method."

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry, external across the EU, stated it knew the problems triggered by the required. But it believes that biofuels have many positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the problems on the planet is a bit too overstated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, task supervisor at the EBB.

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