Would you pay more for biofuels?

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Each week Arabian Business invites you to have your say on a popular issue. This week: Would you pay more for biofuels?
Yes | No

Stephen Gott, Dubai, UAE, via email: YES

Let's put it this way: I'd rather pay a little more for my car fuel and breathe in cleaner air. Just as with organic food, however, the question is the availability of biofuels and hybrid vehicles. While not everyone can afford to switch from their current automobiles to a hybrid option in addition to paying an extra small fortune for alternative fuel, many of us can.

Dubai has a very powerful consumer base and I believe if biofuels were introduced to the market tomorrow then the number of people who would consider the switch would definitely pick up, especially now that the momentum for environmentally-friendly projects is at unprecedented levels. If marketed and distributed properly, demand is bound to soar to new heights, which in turn will drive supply and the price of biofuels will decrease over time.

Not many might be aware of the benefits of biofuels and that is something to be addressed and clarified in order to spread more awareness.

In addition to being a significant contributor to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, one of the main causes of global warming, biofuel is also a viable energy security option providing an alternative to fossil fuels.

Biofuels can be produced from any short-term carbon cycle organic compound which results in a variety of resources and types of biofuels. In addition, producing biofuels from waste would be striking two goals at once. A report released by the European Union stated that by the year 2020, 19 million tonnes of oil-equivalent will be available from biomass - recently living organisms or their metabolic by-products used as a renewable energy source - of which 46% will be derived from biowastes. This will greatly contribute to prevention of global warming. Other viable source of alternative fuel is landfill gas, a byproduct generated by landfills. Landfill gas could be utilised directly by industry or used to generate electricity for mass consumption. Today, the conviction that biofuels will largely contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere has much scientific data to back it up. I would pay to know that emissions are being reduced.

Robin de Beers, Sharjah, UAE, via email: NO

I'm all for paying a little extra to save the planet, and preserve the Middle East's shrinking oil reserves. But I'm not convinced that biofuels are the answer - and even if they are, it's going to take a lot more than ‘Green Guilt' to make people pay more for them. For a start, biofuels are more expensive than traditional fuels because they are a lot harder to convert into a usable product. The raw materials needed to produce this requires a lot of energy to turn them into biofuels, and this in turn means that people are often using fossil fuels as an economic way to produce them - which of course reduces the net impact of the biofuels.

Also, sugar cane-based biofuels, for example, require large areas of land that must be farmed, particularly in developing nations. This can cause untold damage to environmentally sensitive native ecosystems, which must be cleared in order for farmers to meet their crop requirements.

Then, even when you have the final biofuels, there is a huge range of energy efficiency, depending on the biomass feedstock used, and the production location. For example, biofuels grown in temperate climates, such as corn, typically have a low energy efficiency compared to those grown in the tropics and subtropics, such as sugar cane.

This variation means that the impact of different fuels varies wildly, and in some cases it is hardly worth all the extra energy that has gone into their production. Yet even if we put aside these points and agree for the sake of argument that biofuels are the answer, there is one simple economic fact: If governments introduce biofuels at a higher price than regular fuel, everybody will go for the cheaper option. It is human nature, and as a result I think that people will only adopt biofuels when they have no other choice. Why pay more than your neighbour?

This is where governments come in, and this is where strong legislation must be put in place if we really want to make a difference. Unless governments are held accountable for their environmental responsibilities, then we might as well fill up on regular and save our cents.

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