Controversy over biofuels: Study delivers amazing results

Created: 02/28/2022, 15:38

By: Simon Mones

Do biofuels really have a positive impact on the climate?

A study commissioned by the German Environmental Aid provides astonishing results.

Heidelberg – This news is likely to come at an inopportune time for Audi.

The VW subsidiary recently started approving its diesel engines for biofuel HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil).

Allegedly, 70 to 95 percent of CO2 can be saved in this way.

However, a current study by the Heidelberg Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU) on behalf of the German Environmental Aid (DUH) sees things differently, as reported by 24auto.de.

According to this, almost 16.5 million tons of carbon dioxide could be saved annually if the agricultural areas used for the production of biofuels were left to nature.

For the production of biofuels for German petrol and diesel engines, 1.2 million hectares of agricultural land are used worldwide - 500,000 of them in Germany.

Controversy over biofuels: Study delivers amazing results

However, the study showed that the use of regenerative fuels in Germany in 2020 only bound a maximum of 9.2 million tons of CO2.

The IFEU relies on data from the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food and the EU Commission.

Fuels from residual and waste materials were not taken into account, as reported by "heise.de".

(E-Fuels: Can synthetic fuels save the internal combustion engine?)

Aren't biofuels so climate-friendly after all? (Iconic image) © blickwinkel/Imago

In view of this balance, the DUH therefore called for the biofuels to be discontinued with immediate effect.

"Diesel from rapeseed, soya or palm oil and gasoline from grain do not belong in the tank," explained DUH Federal Managing Director Sascha Müller-Kraenner.

The representation is idealized for the association of the biofuel industry, since the requirements of the transition phase to the electric drive would not be taken into account.

(Astron Omega 1: Does this engine save the combustion engine?)

Dispute over biofuels: Study recommends using land for solar power production

Study author Horst Fehrenbach explained to the dpa that it would make more sense to use the areas for the production of renewable energies.

For example using solar panels.

According to the study, 97 percent less space would be required to generate solar power for electric cars for the same range.

However, the German biofuel associations Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP) and the Federal Association of the German Bioethanol Industry (BDBe) contradict this representation.

In her opinion, the DUH gives the impression that all 55 million combustion engines could be operated with solar power from now on.

*24auto.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA