Swedes drive Europe’s biofuel usage
In Stockholm, Sweden you will get free parking and free congestion charge when your car runs on biofuels. There are 800 service stations in Sweden providing biofuels and more starting to do so every year.
Maybe that’s the reason to why Volvo-cars are seen lined up on the streets, or perhaps, people have been fed up with the highest petrol prices in Europe.
It is good to see Sweden taking the lead for a healthier environment. Here, the market has been bolstered by tax breaks such as all carbon dioxide neutral fuels being exempt from carbon and energy taxes.
The rest of Europe is rapidly following the increasing biofuel market, with UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) saying that from April 2008 biofuels must make up at least 2.5% of transport fuel supplier’s sales by volume, increasing to 5% by 2010, and in Germany, they have introduced the compulsory blending of at least 1.2% of biodiesel with regular diesel from January 2007
France, Sweden and Italy have also introduced obligations on fuel retailers to sell biofuels.
This success is all dependent on the national legal mandates and increased availability at the pump says a new report The European Landscape for Biofuels in the Transport Sector.
In the UK the availability of biofuels is increasing. The number of service stations selling biodiesel increased almost five-fold between 2006 and 2007, with numbers growing from 110 to 499.
The sales of biofuels in the whole of EU has increased since the introduction of the European Biofuels Directive. They predict the biofuels market will account for 5.75% of total road fuel sales by 2010.
The biofuels market increased from 0.5% in 2003 to 1% in 2005. EU energy ministers agreed in February 2007 to increase this target by 10% by 2010.
The European Union is a particularly strong advocate of biofuels rather than other alternative fuels because it believes that they are currently the only direct substitute for oil in transport that is available on a significant scale.
Replacing diesel and petrol with fuels made from renewable sources also helps the EU in achieving other goals such as meeting climate change commitments, ensuring a security of supply of road fuel and promoting renewable energy sources.
