From today in the UK, all petrol and diesel sold on forecourts must contain at least 2.5 per cent biofuel. Although the Government insists its flagship environmental policy will make Britain’s 33 million vehicles greener, there is a huge amount of evidence that the biofuel revolution will speed up global warming and the loss of … Read More
Biofuels
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Warns Against Biofuels
Another day and another warning about biofuels. The world must take care when developing biofuels to avoid perverse environmental effects and higher food prices, Nobel Peace Prize winner and chair of the IPPC, Rajendra Pachauri said yesterday.
The “Insanity” of Biofuels
Just days before new legislation in the UK mandating their use, there is yet more trouble for biofuels. Professor Bob Watson, one of the British government’s top chief scientific advisers has said it would be wrong to introduce compulsory quotas for the use of biofuels in petrol and diesel before their effects had been properly … Read More
First Biofuel Flight Dismissed as Stunt
The world’s first commercial aircraft powered partly by biofuel took off from Heathrow yesterday to a storm of criticism from climate change experts, who insisted it was nothing more than Sir Richard Branson’s latest “nonsensical” publicity stunt. The Virgin Atlantic 747 flew from London to Amsterdam using a 20 per cent biofuel mix of coconut … Read More
“Biofuels Branson” is UN’s Special Guest at Climate Meeting
Why does the UN continue to take Richard Branson seriously when it comes to climate change? Here is a man whose fleet of airplanes continues to promote transanatlantic travel, who is investing in space tourism for the super rich at the same time as promoting biofuels as the solution to climate change, which will just … Read More
Biofuels Increase CO2 Emissions
More bad news for biofuels. Transforming ecosystems into farms for biofuel crops will increase global warming and result in net increases in carbon emissions, according to a new study. Scientists have found that converting rainforests, peatlands and grasslands can outweigh the carbon savings made from biofuels and produce “carbon debts” which could take centuries to … Read More
More Bad News For Biofuels
Every week there seems to be a new report on the potential downsides of biofuels. This week it is the turn of British MPs. UK and European governments should not have pursued targets to increase the use of biofuels without putting in place “robust” measures to prevent environmental damage, the MPs are warning.
Biofuels “No Silver Bullet”
Biofuels have a limited ability to replace fossil fuels and should not be regarded as a “silver bullet” solution to reducing transport emissions, British scientists have warned. The report by Britain’s Royal Society warned that biofuels risk failing to deliver significant reductions in transport emissions and could even be environmentally damaging unless the government implements … Read More
Grass biofuels “Cut CO2 by 94%”
Producing biofuels from a fast-growing grass delivers vast savings of carbon dioxide emissions compared with petrol, a large-scale study has suggested. A team of US researchers also found that switchgrass-derived ethanol produced 540% more energy than was required to manufacture the fuel. They also calculated that the production and consumption of switchgrass-derived ethanol cut CO2 … Read More
Burning Biofuels “Worse than Oil”
Oh, dear George W. Wasn’t biofuels from corn one of your great ideas? You may have to think again. Using biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and soy could have a greater environmental impact than burning fossil fuels, according to experts. Although the fuels themselves emit fewer greenhouse gases, they all have higher costs in … Read More