Biofuels are NOT the solution!
Biofuels are not CO2 neutral. According to various studies (German Ministry of Environment, Council for Automotive Research, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission), the production, transport and burning of biofuels produces more CO2 than the plants from which the fuel is produced absorbs. In figures: just to produce one tonne of biofuel requires one tonne of energy.
Other side effects of the production of biofuel such as the transformation of large areas of CO2 absorbing rain forest is transformed into highly subsidised and over fertilised agricultural land are neglected.
Biofuels can only be a niche market considering that to fuel just the commercial vehicle fleet of today, 25% of the world’s agricultural land would have to be converted into biofuel crops.
OECD studies show that biofuels achieve the greatest CO2 abatement when it is used to offset coal fired power plants. Considering that road transport uses only 3% of fossile fuel and considering that this fuel must be blended with biofuel in a ration of 1:10, it becomes clear that biofuels are not the solution for reducing CO2 emission from road transport.
|
