.
"The UK's "irrational" use of biofuels will cost motorists around £460 million over the next 12 months, a think tank says. A report by Chatham House says the growing reliance on sustainable liquid fuels will also increase food prices.
The author says that biodiesel made from vegetable oil was worse for the climate than fossil fuels.
Under EU law, biofuels are set to make up 5% of the UK's transport fuel from today.
Since 2008, the UK has required fuel suppliers to add a growing proportion of sustainable materials into the petrol and diesel they supply. These biofuels are mainly ethanol distilled from corn and biodiesel made from rapeseed, used cooking oil and tallow....
The report say that if the UK is to meet its obligations to EU energy targets the cost to motorists is likely to rise to £1.3bn per annum by 2020
"It is hard to find any good news," Rob Bailey, senior research fellow at Chatham House, told BBC News.
"Biofuels increase costs and they are a very expensive way to reduce carbon emissions," he said.
The EU biofuel mandates are also having hugely distorting effects in the marketplace. Because used cooking oil is regarded as one of the most sustainable types of biodiesel, the price for it has risen rapidly. Rob Bailey says that towards the end of 2012 it was more expensive than refined palm oil.
"It creates a financial incentive to buy refined palm oil, cook a chip in it to turn it into used cooking oil and then sell it at profit."...
There are also worries that taking EU land out of production to grow rapeseed oil in particular is creating more climate problems than it solves. The more fuel of this type that is put into cars the bigger the deficit created in the edible oils market. This had lead to increased imports of palm oil from Indonesia, often produced on deforested land.
"Once you take into account these indirect effects, biofuels made from vegetable oils actually result worldwide in more emissions than you would get from using diesel in the first place," said Rob Bailey.
"Plus you are asking motorists to pay more for the fuel - it makes no sense, it is a completely irrational strategy."
The European Biodiesel Board (EBB), which represents the industry across the EU, said it was aware of the problems caused by the mandate. But it believes that biofuels have many positives.
"Blaming biofuels for all the troubles in the world is a bit too exaggerated," said Isabelle Maurizi, project manager at the EBB.
"It has brought lots of benefits. It has improved the security of our diesel; it has reduced EU dependency on animal feed imports, thanks to the rapeseed we grow for biodiesel."
"If there was no biodiesel farmers would just make their land idle - no food, no feed!"
As the UK hits the 5% of liquid fuels mark, the government faces some difficult decisions on how to move forward on this issue as it faces tripling the costs for motorists by 2020."...
======================
From study linked in above BBC article:
April 2013, "The Trouble with Biofuels: Costs and Consequences of Expanding Biofuel Use in the United Kingdom," ChathamHouse.org, Rob Bailey
The shift to ethanol in recent reporting periods can in part be attributed to the high availability of US corn ethanol in international markets. Buoyed
by cheap domestic corn prices and a saturated domestic market, 2011 was a record
year for US ethanol exports, which increased fourfold on 2010. Imports were facilitated
by the practice of blending ethanol with 10 per cent petrol (so-called E90), which allowed ethanol to enter EU markets at a lower tariff rate. In March 2012 the EU changed its tariff structures to reclassify E90 as eligible for higher duty; in combination with the drought
in the United States, this meant that imports dropped off in the second half of the year."...
===========================
41% of the US corn crop in 2010 went to the ethanol industry.
---------------------------------------------
=============================
UN official calls biofuels "a crime against humanity:"
“Ban Ki-moon speaks out amid global food shortage, 33 countries facing unrest as families go hungry”
“The UN’s own special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler,
Biofuels have driven up global food prices by 75%:
“Biofuels have driven up global food prices by 75 percent, according to the Guardian report, accounting for more than half of the 140 percent jump in price since 2002 of the food examined by the study. The paper claims that the report, completed in April, was not made public in order to avoid embarrassing US President George W. Bush….
“Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises,” Oxfam policy advisor Robert Bailey told the Guardian on Friday."…
===========================
41% of the US corn crop in 2010 went to the ethanol industry.
---------------------------------------------
Big banks love ethanol, say it's a matter of
'national security' to them:
9/5/12, “Bankers: Ethanol at heart of corn, farm
pricing structure,” Reuters
“The facts, they say, show that ethanol is now bolted
on to the core of three huge industries: energy, meat
and banking....
“Corn can be a national security issue for this
country,” said
Curt Covington, senior vice president for agricultural
and rural banking
at Bank of the West, the second largest
commercial lender to U.S.
farmers. “That’s where we are right now.”"...
'national security' to them:
9/5/12, “Bankers: Ethanol at heart of corn, farm
pricing structure,” Reuters
“The facts, they say, show that ethanol is now bolted
on to the core of three huge industries: energy, meat
and banking....
“Corn can be a national security issue for this
country,” said
Curt Covington, senior vice president for agricultural
and rural banking
at Bank of the West, the second largest
commercial lender to U.S.
farmers. “That’s where we are right now.”"...
=============================
3/20/13, "Corn Ethanol Fuels Riots" Walter Russell Mead, The American Interest
"Corn ethanol gets just about everything wrong: it increases emissions, it starves the world’s poor, it isn’t efficient, and it drains billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies. As it turns out, it might also be responsible for last year’s violent labor protests in South Africa and food protests in Haiti and Argentina. The story was covered here at The American Interest last October, but on Monday Real Clear Energy gave a nice summary touching on the correlation between food prices and civil unrest...
"Corn ethanol gets just about everything wrong: it increases emissions, it starves the world’s poor, it isn’t efficient, and it drains billions of taxpayer dollars in subsidies. As it turns out, it might also be responsible for last year’s violent labor protests in South Africa and food protests in Haiti and Argentina. The story was covered here at The American Interest last October, but on Monday Real Clear Energy gave a nice summary touching on the correlation between food prices and civil unrest...
"The UN urged
the US to cut its ethanol mandates last August to help ease spiking
world food prices....If not for the sake of emissions, efficiency, or the world’s
starving poor, then for a more stable geopolitical landscape."...
.
.
===========================
UN official calls biofuels "a crime against humanity:"
.
4/4/2008, “UN chief calls for review of biofuels policy,” UK Guardian, Julian Borger
4/4/2008, “UN chief calls for review of biofuels policy,” UK Guardian, Julian Borger
“Ban Ki-moon speaks out amid global food shortage, 33 countries facing unrest as families go hungry”
“The UN’s own special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler,
.
called biofuels “a crime against humanity”,
and called for a five-year moratorium….
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has called for a comprehensive review of the policy on biofuels as a crisis in global food prices – partly caused by
and called for a five-year moratorium….
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has called for a comprehensive review of the policy on biofuels as a crisis in global food prices – partly caused by
the increasing use of crops for energy generation -
threatens to trigger global instability.”…
.
==========================
Biofuels have driven up global food prices by 75%:
.
7/4/2008, “Biofuels May Be Even Worse than First Thought,” Der Spiegel“Biofuels have driven up global food prices by 75 percent, according to the Guardian report, accounting for more than half of the 140 percent jump in price since 2002 of the food examined by the study. The paper claims that the report, completed in April, was not made public in order to avoid embarrassing US President George W. Bush….
“Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises,” Oxfam policy advisor Robert Bailey told the Guardian on Friday."…
.
========================
Even Mayor Bloomberg who has financial interests in the CO2 terror industry says ethanol causes people to starve to death (translation: ethanol is genocide).
.
Even Mayor Bloomberg who has financial interests in the CO2 terror industry says ethanol causes people to starve to death (translation: ethanol is genocide).
2/11/08, "Bloomberg slams U.S. energy law over corn ethanol" Reuters by Louis Charbonneau and Timothy Gardner
.
"A new U.S. energy law will cause an increase in global food prices and lead to starvation deaths worldwide because it continues to promote corn ethanol, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.
after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change."...
=========================
11/16/12, “EPA rejects governors’ requests to waive ethanol mandate,” Houston Chronicle, Jennifer Dlouhy
“The Obama administration on Friday rebuffed requests by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the leaders of several other states to waive a federal renewable fuel mandate that requires ethanol to be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply.
In rejecting the waiver requests, the Environmental Protection Agency effectively disagreed with the states’ concerns that the mandate was spiking corn demand and prices following a drought that devastated crops in the Midwest. The EPA concluded the Renewable Fuel Standard would not cause “severe economic harm” to states and regions."...
========================
10/28/11, “UK firm’s failed biofuel dream wrecks lives of Tanzania villagers,” UK Guardian, Damian Carrington
==========================
============================
.
“How much our climate is warming real? NASA researchers have shown that the temperature rise in 15 years takes a break. At the same time, there are indications that shifts the problem: The environment could be a completely different place preliminary heat….
“The stalemate has led to the suggestion that global warming had stopped,” admits the Nasa.
The British Met Office forecast even more recently that the temperature interval could continue at a high level until the end of 2017 - despite the rapid increase in greenhouse gas emissions . Then global warming would pause 20 years. How many years, this is a now common question, because the temperature would still falter, climate scientists to rethink their forecasts of future warming?…Scientists previously thought, fourteen years without further warming were to bring into line with their forecasts – but not “15 years or more,” as NASA scientists four years ago in the journal “Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society” konstatierten . A renowned scientist wrote on 7 May 2009 in an e-mail to colleagues, as the heating pause had lasted eleven years: “The non-trend [of temperatures] would take 15 years before we need to worry about [our results].”
15 years without warming the air near the ground is now over. The stalemate in the average temperature shows that the uncertainties of climate predictions are surprisingly large.”…
.
"A new U.S. energy law will cause an increase in global food prices and lead to starvation deaths worldwide because it continues to promote corn ethanol, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.
- "People literally will starve to death in parts of the world,
- it always happens when food prices go up," Bloomberg told reporters
after addressing a U.N. General Assembly debate on climate change."...
=========================
11/16/12, “EPA rejects governors’ requests to waive ethanol mandate,” Houston Chronicle, Jennifer Dlouhy
“The Obama administration on Friday rebuffed requests by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the leaders of several other states to waive a federal renewable fuel mandate that requires ethanol to be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply.
In rejecting the waiver requests, the Environmental Protection Agency effectively disagreed with the states’ concerns that the mandate was spiking corn demand and prices following a drought that devastated crops in the Midwest. The EPA concluded the Renewable Fuel Standard would not cause “severe economic harm” to states and regions."...
========================
10/28/11, “UK firm’s failed biofuel dream wrecks lives of Tanzania villagers,” UK Guardian, Damian Carrington
==========================
6/4/12, “Climate change stunner: USA leads world in CO2 cuts since 2006,” Vancouver Observer, Saxifrage
“Not only that, but as my top chart shows, US CO2 emissions are falling even faster than what President Obama pledged in the global Copenhagen Accord.…
Here is the biggest shocker of all: the average American’s CO2 emissions are down to levels not seen since 1964 --over half a century ago. …Coal is the number two source of CO2 for Americans. Today the average American burns an amount similar to what they did in 1955, and even less than they did in the 1940s. …It is exactly America’s historical role of biggest and dirtiest that makes their sharp decline in CO2 pollution so noteworthy and potentially game changing at the global level.”...
“Not only that, but as my top chart shows, US CO2 emissions are falling even faster than what President Obama pledged in the global Copenhagen Accord.…
Here is the biggest shocker of all: the average American’s CO2 emissions are down to levels not seen since 1964 --over half a century ago. …Coal is the number two source of CO2 for Americans. Today the average American burns an amount similar to what they did in 1955, and even less than they did in the 1940s. …It is exactly America’s historical role of biggest and dirtiest that makes their sharp decline in CO2 pollution so noteworthy and potentially game changing at the global level.”...
============================
Global warming pause, Der Spiegel, Jan. 2013:
.
.
1/18/13, “Climate change: scientists puzzle over halt in global warming,” Der Spiegel, by Axel Bojanowski (translation from German by google).
“How much our climate is warming real? NASA researchers have shown that the temperature rise in 15 years takes a break. At the same time, there are indications that shifts the problem: The environment could be a completely different place preliminary heat….
“The stalemate has led to the suggestion that global warming had stopped,” admits the Nasa.
The British Met Office forecast even more recently that the temperature interval could continue at a high level until the end of 2017 - despite the rapid increase in greenhouse gas emissions . Then global warming would pause 20 years. How many years, this is a now common question, because the temperature would still falter, climate scientists to rethink their forecasts of future warming?…Scientists previously thought, fourteen years without further warming were to bring into line with their forecasts – but not “15 years or more,” as NASA scientists four years ago in the journal “Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society” konstatierten . A renowned scientist wrote on 7 May 2009 in an e-mail to colleagues, as the heating pause had lasted eleven years: “The non-trend [of temperatures] would take 15 years before we need to worry about [our results].”
15 years without warming the air near the ground is now over. The stalemate in the average temperature shows that the uncertainties of climate predictions are surprisingly large.”…
.
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