UK biofuels ‘not so hot’ according to new report

A new report by UK think tank Chatham House titled The Trouble with Biofuels warns of the detriment to the country via a desire to increase usage.

The author of the report believes that biodiesel made from vegetable oil is worse for the environment than fossil fuels, plus push up food prices and hit consumers at the pump, as the UK heads towards an EU target of 5% biofuels in its overall transport fuel mix.

 Research carried out for the report believes that UK motorists will have to chip in an extra £460 million (€539.5 million) over the next year to fill up with a ‘higher costing fuel’ and through ‘having to fill up more often as biofuels have a lower fuel content’.

‘Agricultural biofuels increase the level and volatility of food prices, with adverse impact on the food security of low-income food-importing countries. They also result in indirect land-use change, the emissions from which are significant,’ author Rob Bailey wrote in the report.

‘Biodiesel from waste products such as used cooking oil or category one tallow offers the most favourable sustainability characteristics, but the risk of indirect emissions increases at higher levels of use. Used cooking oil prices have increased following the introduction of double-counting and now periodically exceed those of refined palm oil, potentially creating incentives for fraudulent activity capable of generating indirect emissions.’

The report also believes that, by 2020, the annual biofuel cost to UK motorists is likely to be in the region of £1.3 billion a year if the country is to meet its EU obligations to supply 10% of transport energy from renewable sources.

‘This target may be reduced through the use of double- or (as yet unavailable) quadruple-counted biofuels,’ Bailey added. ‘However, under current rules, this reduction would have to be offset by the increased deployment of renewables in the heat and electricity sectors.’

The full report can be viewed here.