Biofuel Myths

There has been a huge amount of publicity for biofuels recently, not all of it based on factual information. Home-Grown Cereals Authority has published a leaflet called ‘Making Sense of Biofuels' to help to clarify some of these issues. You can download a PDF of the leaflet from this page. The main areas covered are given below, along with some additional information.

Land availability for growing biofuels and other crops – there is no strong commercial reason for keeping land in set-aside, although some will remain to encourage bio-diversity. On a global scale large amounts of land exist that could become viable for growing crops without damaging the environment.

For the UK the National Farmers' Union has carried out its own analysis of the land that will be required to meet the Government's target of a 5 per cent inclusion of bioethanol and biodiesel in road transport fuel by 2010. It has calculated around 900,000 hectares of land will be needed.

This corresponds almost exactly to the 375,000 ha of land that is currently being used for the exported feed wheat surplus, plus the 559,000 ha of mandatory set aside, which in total would meet the extra land required to meet the Government`s renewable transport fuel obligation.

This calculation takes into account the fact that only part of the crop is used for biofuel production and around 2.4 million tonnes of so-called “co-products” – distillers' grains from wheat and rape meal from oilseed – will be available for animal feed.

There is more information about land usage on the NFU website....click here .

Supply of crops for food and biofuels – the market will respond to the requirement for additional crops not just by using more land, but by increasing productivity. Work is already underway to produce wheat varieties optimised for biofuel production and grown in a more environmentally friendly way.

Biofuels will deliver carbon and greenhouse gas savings – there is independent evidence that demonstrates that biofuels can deliver significant savings in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. For instance research by the Central Science Laboratory said: “ Compared to fossil-derived petrol, bio-ethanol from wheat has the potential to reduce energy inputs by 61% and total greenhouse gas emissions by 65% for each MJ of energy created.”

Assurance for carbon savings and sustainability – the UK government intends to introduce requirements on carbon savings and sustainability as part of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) which will come into force in April 2008. The UK already has one of the most sophisticated systems of farm assurance in the world.

Click here to download ‘Making Sense of Biofuels'

NFU President Peter Kendall spoke at Cereals 2007 on myths and misconceptions around biofuels - you can see a press release on his speech at the NFU website.... click here.