The European Union has set itself the target of meeting 10 per cent of road transport fuel needs from biofuel - fuel produced from biomass - by 2020.
However, a PhD thesis by researcher Anna Sues at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands calculates there is not enough "sustainable" biomass available in Europe to meet this target.
Sues researched the amount of biomass that can sustainably be produced in Europe - without felling forests, without specially planted woodland or energy crops, but simply by collecting biomass - such as forest and straw residues - as prescribed by the EU directives (NB from me: is that right - is this what the EU directive says?] For this purpose she gathered statistical data from all EU countries.
The study finds that if all available biomass in Europe is used in the most efficient possible way for the transport industry, a biofuels proportion of 9.5% would be achievable but that in practice this figure is no nowhere near achievable.
"It will never be possible to collect absolutely all the available plant and wood wastes," Sues explains. "And a further problem is that most European woodland is privately owned, which means contracts would have to be made with numerous different parties."
For more information see here.
The research is attached below.
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