Experts: New Energy Sources Needed

International car manufacturers and energy experts urged to find new sources of renewable energy for vehicles – including advanced biofuels – in a move to reduce the speed of global warming.

“We’re facing a global problem, not a local problem,” said Jurgen Leohold, a researcher at one of Europe’s largest carmakers, Volkswagen AG. “With the issues of climate change, Europe can’t solve the problem alone.
Leohold, who spoke at the end of a two-day conference on biofuels in the Swedish capital, said the German auto manufacturer was working with researchers and biofuel producers to look into a new generation of biofuels, which would help to further reduce emissions while making engines more efficient.

Magnus Henke, a spokesman for the Swedish conference organizer Ecotraffic, said first generation biofuels, including ethanol made from crops, are not as efficient and sustainable as new alternatives in cutting carbon emissions.

“If we stayed with that (first generation biofuels), we would be forced to reduce our energy consumption to a level that would be even below the one we have today,” Henke said.

About 100 fuel production experts, politicians and car company representatives from a dozen countries discussed the advantages and urgency of adopting a new generation of automotive biofuels as developing countries increase energy consumption.

Kiplinger