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

The UK's "irrational" use of biofuels will cost 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 rates.

The author says that biodiesel made from grease was even worse for the climate than fossil fuels.

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 needed fuel providers to include a growing percentage of sustainable materials into the petrol and diesel they supply. These biofuels are generally ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, utilized cooking oil and tallow.

Deep fried fuel

But research study brought out for Chatham House states that reaching the 5% level implies that UK vehicle drivers will need to pay an additional ₤ 460m a year due to the fact that of the higher expense of fuel at the pump and from filling up more often as biofuels have a lower energy content.

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

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

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

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

"It produces a financial incentive to purchase refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into utilized cooking oil and then sell it at earnings,"

"It is crazy however the rewards exist."

There are also stresses that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in specific is creating more environment issues than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is taken into cars the larger the deficit produced in the edible oils market. This had caused increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often produced on deforested land.

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

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

Biofuel advantages

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the market, external across the EU, stated it knew the issues triggered by the required. But it thinks that biofuels have numerous positives.

"Blaming biofuels for all the difficulties on the planet is a bit too overstated," stated Isabelle Maurizi, project manager at the EBB.

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