Doubling Amount of Ethanol in Petrol 'Could Reduce Our Carbon Emissions’

(The Carlow Nationalist) Doubling the amount of ethanol in petrol would significantly reduce our carbon emissions. Every litre of petrol sold in Ireland contains 5% of the biofuel, ethanol. A new climate action report has found that doubling the amount of ethanol in petrol will reduce our carbon emissions by 150,000 tonnes.

Author of the report, economist Jim Power says that is the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road overnight. READ MORE

Excerpt from EurActiv: Report by economist Jim Power -- Ethanol achieves high impact reductions in transport carbon emissions overnight; Cuts carbon emissions by 70% compared to petrol in the existing fleet; Has the lowest carbon abatement cost of all alternative fuels; E10 would cut emissions by 150,000 tonnes CO2eq, equivalent to taking out 50,000 cars; At no cost and no loss of revenue to the Exchequer and could save €25m in EU fines; Can be introduced overnight at no cost to consumers and no expensive infrastructure cost

E10 is already widely available in Belgium, Finland, France, Sweden and Germany, and is being introduced in other European countries. Ireland currently has 5% ethanol in its petrol, which was introduced without any adverse effects in 2005.

“Under EU biofuels regulations, Ireland has 18 months to maximise its use of safe effective EU biofuels derived from crops and build them into the climate programme.” After 2020 EU regulations will prevent Ireland raising biofuel use levels. “The opportunity for introducing E10 will have passed, so Ireland should act now.”

“It is difficult to understand why E10 is not accepted by the Irish Government as the way forward for Ireland’s transport climate obligations. It is the strongly held view of the author of this report that Ethanol should be accepted and taken on board as a solution for Ireland, and a solution that would have many positive direct and indirect effects.”

“IPCC has projected far reaching deployment of both electrification and biofuels as essential for achieving the 1.5D target. Ethanol offers immediate high impact carbon savings of 70% in liquid energy carriers by directly displacing fossil in the existing combustion fleet. With ethanol there is no loss of revenue to the exchequer, the lowest carbon abatement cost of alternative fuels and savings for taxpayers, motorists and the economy.”

In a foreword to the Power report, Brendan Halligan, President of the Institute of International and European Affairs says decarbonising transport will take at least three decades, and probably more.

“The task of replacing a national transport fleet based on diesel and petrol is a gargantuan one and will take many decades to complete. Without the increased use of E10 there is no quick fix to hand, short of banning cars and trucks from the roads for defined periods. Put in these terms, the case for E10 is utterly compelling and the mystery is why it has not been accepted and acted upon with the urgency the situation demands. Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action which opined that the failure to initiate solutions to climate change was more likely to arise from bureaucratic and regulatory obstacles than from technology. The present failure to act on E10 would, indeed, appear to be an example.” READ MORE