Tag: alternative fuels

Alternative fuels could bridge the transition to low-carbon road transport as electric cars remain a thing of the future, a roundtable at the European Parliament heard yesterday (18 November).

Petrol and diesel specifications are being reviewed in order to lower their environmental and health impact as well as to take into account new EU-wide targets on biofuels and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

With ethanol and biodiesel coming under increasing criticism for driving up food prices and putting biodiversity at risk, the EU has committed to 'second-generation' biofuels as a clean alternative for transportation - but many challenges remain before they find their way into our cars.

Carlos Cabrera, president and CEO of the Honeywell-owned company UOP - which has specialised in developing processes and technologies for refining crude oil for the past 90 years - told EurActiv why he believes policymakers should shift their attention to second-generation biofuels if they want to substantially reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector.

Consumer acceptance, fuel infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities should develop hand-in-hand to avoid deadlock in the diffusion of alternative-fuel vehicles, according tp Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers Struben and Sterman.

Policies to support biofuels in the United States are costly and do not help much towards alleviating dependency on imported petroleum or reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, a think-tank warns.

Biofuels, natural gas, hydrogen… None of the candidates to replace oil in vehicles are entirely convincing at the moment, according to the Commission which says it lacks a long-term vision supported by carmakers and the oil industry.

To improve security of energy supply and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the EU has set itself the objective of a 10% substitution of traditional fuels in the road transport sector (gasoline and conventional diesel) by alternative fuels before the year 2020. Three alternative solutions are seen as promising: biofuels, natural gas and hydrogen.

The EU is promoting the marketing of greener cars via a combination of binding and non-binding measures. 'Clean vehicles' include low emission conventionally fuelled vehicles as well as those powered by alternative fuels. The production of such vehicles, generating less CO2 emissions, requires innovation in fuels, alternative powertrain technology, noise reduction and new materials.

Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen said boosting alternative fuels will be "one of the most important issues" that he will address together with environment and energy colleagues.