Go Zero

Monday 11 June 2007

Roland Clift, professor of environmental technology at Surrey University, is warning the
Government and the EU to "back off" from promoting the use of biofuels for transport.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme, Professor Clift explained that the low yield of energy crops meant it would be difficult to produce sufficient crops to meet transport needs.

"We certainly need to use biofuels but transport biofuels are the wrong way to go," he said.
"The yield you get for a given land area is very small, and we're getting into a position here we are clearly going to see competition between food production and production of energy crops. I'm all for energy crops, they're a necessary part of combating climate change, but the yield you get is very low.  The European Union has aspirations for target levels of biofuels in transport fuels; there is not enough land in Europe to grow that. I and people like me, have been saying this for a good 15 years. I think the trouble is that the Transport Fuels Obligation has gone through without people really thinking about it. When you first encounter it, well these are renewable fuels, clearly they've got to be good and I don't think thinking went beyond that."

And he added: "The Government should back off and encourage the European Union to back off on including biofuels for transport, but encourage, very strongly encourage, the use of woody biofuels for heat and power. That way you get quite sensible yields; that's the way to go."

Professor Clift is a member of the Defra Science Advisory Council.

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