photo by CCRES
Biofuels are key to industry’s future
In a bid to reduce its dependency on imported oil and tackle global
warming, the EU has committed to raising the share of fuels from
renewable sources in transport to 10% by 2020 – including biofuels,
hydrogen and green electricity.
For the growing aviation industry, the switch to plant-based fuel is
seen as not only environmentally smart, but a sensible financial move in
an era or rising conventional fuel prices and worries about supply
security.
Biofuel use in passenger aircraft is still a novelty, and industry
officials are urging governments to help lift supplies, much as policies
in the EU and United States have created a flourishing market in
plant-based oils for motor vehicles.
The industry contends that sustainable fuels will reduce emissions
even as passenger traffic grows. The airline sector has committed to
meet 10% of its overall fuel consumption with biofuels by 2017 – though
the goal is ambitious given that it is to account for just 1% by 2015...
Meanwhile, more doubts are being raised about the environmental benefits of biofuels.
The United Nations Environment Programme has
warned that even though burning plant-based fuels can produce
significantly lower levels of carbon emissions, production and land
clearing to make way for new crops “may reduce carbon-savings or even
lead to an increase.”
European conservation groups say the EU and European governments
should wait to embrace aviation biofuels until there is proof of their
environmental benefits.
Airlines have committed to ramping up their use of biofuels in the
belief that they can contribute to achieving the sector's pledges on
carbon-neutral growth. For 2050, the EU foresees 40% use of "sustainable
low carbon fuels" in aviation.
Croatian Center of Renewable Energy Sources (CCRES)
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