UK: National Express quits biofuel experiment

One of Britain’s leading transport groups has cast doubt over the green credentials of biofuels after pulling out of a trial amid fears that it was doing more harm than good to the environment.

National Express has suspended a biodiesel trial at its UK bus operations after consulting green groups. Biofuel tests have been used by transport companies to highlight their environmental friendliness, with Virgin Trains and Virgin Atlantic among the most high-profile backers of the alternative energy source.
Richard Bowker, National Express chief executive, said the coach, bus and rail group would continue to look at such initiatives, but its biofuel study underlined that “what appears to be the green option may not actually be green after all”.

National Express said there is “considerable concern” that biofuel production – from crops including sugar cane and rapeseed – will destroy natural habitats and increase the cost of food farming in developing countries. Biofuels are theoretically “carbon neutral” because the carbon they release on being combusted in engines was previously taken from the atmosphere through photosynthesis as the plant material in the fuel was being grown.

“Biofuels may well have a role to play in helping us reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases arising from transport operations in the future and we are not dismissing the role they may play in the future, but based on the evidence today I think it is vital that we wait for issues relating to the sustainability of supply are resolved before we press ahead with trials of biodiesel,” Mr Bowker said.

National Express added that a number of scientific studies showed the benefits of biofuels were “frequently exaggerated” and carbon emissions could be higher than from traditional oil because of the intensive farming methods behind its manufacture.

Guardian