EU to change biofuels policy: imports from Brazil, solid biomass for electric transport, biohydrogen

After a three day informal meeting, European Energy Ministers have signaled the beginning of a change of policy on biofuels. Instead of producing liquid biofuels in the EU, they are considering to import the green fuels from Brazil, where they can be made far more efficiently. Thus the view is shifting towards the 'North-South' relationship always advocated by Biopact. What is more, the Commission's target of having 10% of all transport powered by 'renewables' by 2020 is now being rephrased: 'renewable' does not have to mean 'liquid biofuels'. Instead, solid biomass used for the production of electricity to be used in more efficient electric cars, is also a way to meet the target. Biohydrogen, possibly coupled to carbon capture and storage to yield 'negative emissions' energy, and used in fuel cell cars, is yet another way to be 'renewable'.

The ministers of the different EU member states have the highest decision making authority, superceding that of the Commission. Their views thus ultimately drive policies and legislation. The new outlook on biofuels comes at a time when France takes over the rotating European Council presidency. France is known to favor a transition to electric transport (in part because it is the European country with the strongest energy security, the result of its heavy reliance on nuclear power).

The Energy Ministers' view that the EU should consider importing efficient biofuels from Brazil is based on the position of lawmaker Claude Turmes, who is leading renewable energy legislation through the European Parliament. Turmes has received strong backing from his collegues in the parliament and suggests a first bilateral agreement with the Latin American country.

My analysis shows the only country where we can sustainably import substantial quantities of agri-fuels to the EU at the moment is Brazil. [...] Such an agreement would be a test case, with tough criteria both on sustainability and social issues. - Claude Turmes, MEP, Group of the Greens

Brazilian biofuels - notably sugarcane ethanol - can be up to 8 to 10 times more efficient than those made in the European Union. They are also up to 5 times less costly to produce, don't require subsidies and are very competitive with gasoline today. Biofuels made in Brazil have not had an impact on global food prices, unlike fuels made in Europe or the US.

Biopact's entire goal has been to promote such a North-South relationship: produce biofuels there where they make most ecological, economic and social sense. That is, in the countries of the South, most notably Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, where the largest potential can be found (see map, click to enlarge). We therefor fully support the new emerging European view on biofuels in as much as it begins to take the forms of such a 'pact' with the South.

A second point of Tumes' work, which received parliamentary backing, is a review of the target for renewable energy in transport. By 2015, only 4% would have to come from liquid biofuels. At least one fifth of that target would have to be either second generation biofuels (made from non-grain biomass) or electric transportation based on electricity obtained from solid biomass:
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In 2015, the policy will then be reviewed to see whether to move towards an 8 to 10 percent target in 2020. Analyses have shown that the EU would have to import large quantities of biofuels to meet that goal in any case.

The European Energy Ministers' meeting did not change any policies concretely yet, but the decision makers were in unison over the new view on renewable fuels for transport.

French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said many people had misinterpreted the EU's renewables target to mean 10 percent from biofuels alone. He said the EU had to make clear it could also include electric vehicles recharged using green electricity or powered by hydrogen - nascent technologies that while virtually non-existent today could play a vital role by 2020.

On a well-to-wheel basis, electric transport is far more efficient than transport based on carbonaceous liquid or gaseous fuels burned in internal combustion engines. Electric cars have the advantage that they can use power obtained from a large range of renewables, such as biomass, wind and solar power.

The transition towards electric transportation would be mainly beneficial for the bioenergy sector. This is so because turning biomass into electricity and heat (in combined heat-and-power facilities) is far more efficient and cost-effective than turning it into liquid biofuels. What is more, biomass could provide the much needed renewable baseload for intermittent renewables like wind and solar. Finally, in contrast with first generation biofuels, any type of biomass, including waste, can be used for the production of power.

When it comes to a transition hydrogen, which is still on the European drawing board, biomass is once again set to become the prime feedstock for the production of the gas via a gasification process, because this is the greenest and least costly of the all the production methods (as was concluded in the EU's recently published HyWays report).

An added advantage in using biomass for biohydrogen is that the carbon from the biomass can be captured and sequestered. When this is done, the decarbonized fuel used in cars, would amount to a 'carbon negative' power source. Thus, each time you were to drive a vehicle powered by hydrogen from biomass, the carbon of which has been sequestered, you would actively be taking CO2 out of the atmosphere. And the more you would drive, the more you would be mitigating climate change.

References:
French Presidency of the European Council: Réunions informelles des ministres chargés de l'environnement et de l'énergie (3-5 juillet 2008) - July 6, 2007.

Biopact: EU HyWays report concludes biomass least costly and preferred renewable for hydrogen production; hydrogen can replace 40% oil by 2050 - February 26, 2008

Biopact: Carbon-negative cars could mitigate 646% of global transportation CO2 emissions - June 20, 2008

Biopact: Carbon-negative bioenergy making headway, at last - June 06, 2008

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