Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
production may not be as attractive as hoped because biofuel production
requires considerable energy and fertilizer inputs and so does not meet
the primary policy goal of reduced GHG emissions (Dias de Oliveira et
al. 2005; Crutzen et al., 2007). Indeed, it may be that avoiding deforesta-
tion for agriculture and restoring forests is a better option (Righelato and
Spracklen, 2007). Second, a switch to intensive biofuel production on the
scale needed to supply energy markets will result in a transformation of
species-rich habitats such as tropical rainforests in biodiversity hotspots
(Koh, 2007) and so perhaps have a greater negative ef ect on biodiver-
sity than that of global warming. Third, replacing food production with
biofuel crops could cause market distortions and increase food prices
(Doornbosch and Steenblik, 2007). However, the situation here is compli-
cated by global changes in eating habitats, for example, increased intensive
livestock-rearing and meat consumption in China have been driving the
rise in soya bean production (a biofuel feedstock) and export in countries
such as Brazil (Naylor et al., 2005).
The outline of this chapter is as follows. The next section looks at the
EU renewable fuel policy broadly, and at its biofuels policy specii cally.
The biofuel targets set by the EU and the policies in place to meet such
targets are analysed. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of biodiesel
in helping to meet the EU's biofuels targets, and the issues related to pro-
duction of biodiesel within the EU and in other parts of the world in the
context of the EU's biofuels policy. We then assess the costs and benei ts
of biodiesel production and use, mainly in the transport market to which
it is geared. In addition, we critically review the results from a number of
studies that have looked into the emissions from vehicles using biodiesel.
Then we ask whether biofuels in general, and biodiesel in particular, have
the potential to provide the double benei t of being a secure and cheap
source of energy and at the same time being environmentally friendly - as
is often argued by its promoters. We assess the potential of biodiesel to
achieve this based on our review of the costs and benei ts of biodiesel, as
well as on our analysis of the promotion of biofuels in the EU market and
its policies on biofuels. We conclude the chapter by summarizing the main
issues surrounding biodiesel at present, and looking into the future of this
particular type of renewable fuel, in the context of EU policy, climate
change issues and global energy demand.
EU renewable fuels policy and biodiesel
The European Union has been promoting production and use of renew-
able energy within its Member States, especially during the last decade. In
the past few years, a number of Council resolutions and directives have
been passed in its drive to promote renewable energy production and use
