There are good biofuels and bad biofuels but how do you tell the difference?
This difficulty is made worse when you try and take into account the destruction of natural forests and wetlands to make room to grow biofuel crops. Its suggested that palm oil and soya beans are now unsupportable as a source of biodiesel.
The European Commission are currently assessing the level of carbon emissions each type of biofuel causes once burned and include the indirect land-use change into consideration as well.
For a biofuel to be useful in cutting carbon emissions it needs to have a smaller carbon footprint than regular fuel from crude oil. Apparently, palm oil and soya bean biodiesel is only marginally less polluting that tar sands. Biofuel from maize and sugar are better than crude oil but still have a high level of carbon emissions.
Second generation biofuels are better especially when they come from non-land using sources, such as waste from straw.
The EU certification scheme to declare biofuel as sustainable requires them to emit 35% less CO2 as regular fuel and increasing to 68% by 2018. This means that palm oil, soya bean, rapeseed and sunflower all look dead in the water as sources of alternative fuel.
The use of soya or palm oil is dirtier then conventional fossil fuels. Forests are being destroyed needlessly for plantations to meet the European market. European politicians at all levels need to think again.
There are good biofuels and bad biofuels
There are good biofuels and bad biofuels but how do you tell the difference?
This difficulty is made worse when you try and take into account the destruction of natural forests and wetlands to make room to grow biofuel crops. Its suggested that palm oil and soya beans are now unsupportable as a source of biodiesel.
For a biofuel to be useful in cutting carbon emissions it needs to have a smaller carbon footprint than regular fuel from crude oil. Apparently, palm oil and soya bean biodiesel is only marginally less polluting that tar sands. Biofuel from maize and sugar are better than crude oil but still have a high level of carbon emissions.
Second generation biofuels are better especially when they come from non-land using sources, such as waste from straw.
The EU certification scheme to declare biofuel as sustainable requires them to emit 35% less CO2 as regular fuel and increasing to 68% by 2018. This means that palm oil, soya bean, rapeseed and sunflower all look dead in the water as sources of alternative fuel.
The use of soya or palm oil is dirtier then conventional fossil fuels. Forests are being destroyed needlessly for plantations to meet the European market. European politicians at all levels need to think again.