The REFUEL EU road map for biofuels in transport: Application of the project’s tools to some short-term policy issues
Journal article, 2010
The current hot debate on biofuels calls for a balanced and realistic long-term strategy for
biofuels. The REFUEL project provides several ingredients for such a strategy. Analyses in
this project indicate that domestically produced biofuels can cover a significant share of EU
fuel demand in the coming decades, with the EU-12 new member states and Ukraine as
most promising regions. This potential can be realised with residual streams and on
existing agricultural land, without conversion of e.g. nature reserves. Second generation
biofuels are essential for the long-term success of biofuels due to their superior performance
in many ways. But generally, the key challenge for the near future would be how to
enhance the development of biofuels in a responsible way, i.e. stimulating the production
chains with the best performance, and preventing negative impacts e.g., by paying careful
attention to possible system impacts of biofuel production such as indirect land use
changes and rising food prices. Finally, 2nd generation biofuels require specific policy: the
precursor role of 1st generation is overrated, both in technical terms as well as in their role
as market precursors. When it comes to synergies, 2nd generation biofuels might benefit
more from other developments in the energy sector, such as initiatives in co-firing of
biomass for (heat and) power, than from 1st generation biofuels, also because of the public
resistance that the latter induce.
Strategy
Biofuels
Resource potentials
Author
Marc Londo
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)
Sander Lensink
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)
André Wakker
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)
Gunther Fischer
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
S Prieler
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
H. van Velthuizen
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Marc de Wit
Utrecht University
A. Faaij
Utrecht University
M Junginger
Utrecht University
Göran Berndes
Chalmers, Energy and Environment, Physical Resource Theory
Julia Hansson
Chalmers, Energy and Environment, Physical Resource Theory
Andrea Egeskog
Chalmers, Energy and Environment, Physical Resource Theory
Henric Duer
COWI A/S
Jeppe Lundbaek
COWI A/S
Grzegorz Wisniewski
Adam Kupczyk
Kurt Könighofer
Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH
Biomass and Bioenergy
0961-9534 (ISSN) 18732909 (eISSN)
Vol. 34 2 244-250Subject Categories
Other Environmental Engineering
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
DOI
10.1016/j.biombioe.2009.07.005