Subsidising biofuels will only aggravate existing problems
It is claimed that this will reduce Ireland’s contribution to global warming and dependence on imported fossil fuels. In fact, it would only aggravate these problems, as well as creating others.
Selling biofuels at a cost lower than petrol and diesel can only encourage more traffic - and at 0.2% of fuels derived from fossil oil, it is not going to reduce imported fossil fuel dependence when traffic is growing at 5% per annum.
Even for cars run entirely on biofuels, substantial amounts of energy are required for manufacture, road building and other indirect energy demands, which would still come from fossil fuels.
Furthermore, vehicle engines would need to be modified so it is impractical when biofuels cannot be widely available.
Have the advocates of this proposition forgotten that if the exchequer is going to lose the excise duty - about e1 million per annum - from vehicles using biofuels, it has to make this up elsewhere, say, by closing hospitals or raising income tax, not to mention the cost of subsidising farmers?
Have they forgotten that the road system is free of charges, and that revenue from road fund licences covers less than half of the money county councils spend on roads? This would mean that a small van owner, who can reclaim VAT, would be paying only €250 per annum towards road costs; a quarter of the direct costs, and less than a 10th if we include indirect costs such as accidents, pollution, policing, etc, as well and health and environmental costs.
Do they really believe this is morally, economically or environmentally right?
Considerable amounts of energy are required to produce biofuels for cultivating land, for fertilisers, for harvesting and for processing, all coming from fossil fuels which are already exempt from excise duty.
A hectare of land produces about one tonne of biofuel a year, enough to run a small car. There is simply not enough arable land available in Ireland to produce enough biofuel substantially to replace imported fossil fuel.
The Government exceeded the Kyoto agreed limit of a 13% increase (which the minister refers to as a ‘target’) in greenhouse gas emission some years ago; this comes almost entirely from the road transport sector. Still, they propose traffic growth of 5% per annum - equivalent to doubling of traffic volumes every 15 years - and are pursuing a massive road-building programme to accommodate this.
Before the road system is finished, it will have started to become redundant as increasing oil prices push up the cost of motoring. Whether the Government passes these costs on to motorists or attempts to absorb them by reducing services and raising income tax, the economy is going to collapse.
There is no alternative to cheap fossil fuels for the present and predicted road transport use in Ireland, nor is there likely to be - biofuels, hydrogen, electricity, etc, are all quite impractical and far too expensive. By ignoring this fact, and the fact that this situation cannot continue indefinitely, we are in for a very hard landing.
The only way to soften this landing is to reduce traffic by rationing motoring and increasing costs, investing in railways and developing buses, walking and cycling. Nor should we forget that horses and wind-powered ships have served humans for thousands of years and are indefinitely sustainable.
The best way to make use of biofuels is to force oil companies to buy all biofuels produced at cost - ie, without farming subsidies and without exemption from excise duty at cost price for blending with petrol and diesel; no modifications to engines would be necessary. Any increase in pump prices would be miniscule.
Trying to be ‘green’ by subsidising biofuels to encourage consumption is as silly as trying to get slim by eating masses of rye biscuits.
Michael Job
Rossnagrena
Glengarriff
Co Cork
