Novel biofuels pricing system proposed in EU; not enough biomass to support targets, though, says researcher
In the Netherlands, Eindhoven University researcher Anna Sues calculated that “even if all available biomass in Europe is used in the most efficient possible way for the transport industry, a biofuels proportion of no more than 9.5% would be achievable,” and added that achieving such a goal is nowhere near achievable in practice.
The researcher concluded that it is less efficient to make biofuel for use in vehicles with internal combustion engines, than use the biomass to generate electricity and then to promote the use of electric cars. Sues also proposed a novel pricing system: basic principle is that vehicle users should pay the same prices for biofuels and conventional fossil fuels, and that government revenues should remain the same. As long as the production of biofuel is more expensive than that of fossil fuel, users of fossil fuels are subsidizing biofuel.
However Sues’ calculations show that this subsidy always remains limited: the price of fuel at the pump is increased by no more than a few cents per liter.
Category: Research
