EU might free up land for biofuel crops

Biofuels, destined to partially offset a coming oil shortage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, will require much more farm land, forcing the European Union to cultivate fields that have lain fallow.

The European Union wants biofuels to account for 10 percent of the total of motor fuels in 2020, against an estimated 1.6 percent last year.

There are two main kinds of biofuels: ethanols, sometimes called “biopetrol” and which are reserved for petrol-fueled engines; and biodiesels, used in diesel motors.

At the moment biodiesel is much more widely used than ethanol in Europe, in a proportion of 80 percent to 20 percent.

But that could change in the future with the appearance of vehicles equipped with “bi-combustible” or “flex fuel” engines that are to use a maximum of 85 percent of ethanol, against 15 percent of petrol.

EUbusiness.