Biofuels should not be considered in isolation as alternatives to fossil fuels but as a
part of a drive towards the production of sustainable products normally produced
from crude oil. Biorefineries which can produce a range of products including biofuels
from renewable resources should be developed.
Liquid fuels of all types will continue to be used for some time because of the difficulty
of supplying alternative biofuels, and the existing extensive infrastructure will
continue to be used. The use of gaseous fuels such as hydrogen, CNG and LNG
require extensive and costly modification to vehicles and in the case of hydrogen a
completely new infrastructure. Thus, these are long-term solutions.
Fuel cells may
replace the internal combustion engine but these are still under development and will
require modification according to the supply infrastructure, depending on the fuel
used in the fuel cells.
Bioethanol and biodiesel are fuels that can be used now in present
vehicles and infrastructure. The main restrictions on these fuels are insufficient supply
and their cost, which could be improved by the tax structure. FT diesel, FT petrol and
DME are in a developmental stage, as technical advances are required to make their
production economic. In the longer term, hybrid or electric cars may be the best option
for short-distance travel and city use provided the cars are charged using renewablegenerated
electricity.
Diesel and biodiesel will probably be retained for heavy transport;
trains and cars will also use more diesel as this has better fuel consumption. It is
air transport that has not been addressed, probably because fuel is cheap. Biodiesel can
replace kerosene and successful tests have been carried out with turboprop engines.
