Seán Mac Connell,
Agriculture Correspondent
Irish farmers have the capacity to produce fuel substitutes for petrol and diesel at reasonable costs, Sustainable Energy Ireland says in a new report.
The report says farmers can produce biofuels such as biodiesel, which can be derived from oilseed rape, and notes that used cooking oil and tallow can also fuel diesel engines.
In addition, bioethanol can be produced from crops such as wheat and sugar beet and used to fuel petrol engines, said the report, Liquid Biofuels Strategy Study for Ireland.
In addition, bioethanol can be produced from crops such as wheat and sugar beet and used to fuel petrol engines, it said.
The report estimated that biodiesel derived from oilseed rape would cost 80 cent per litre at the refilling station, exclusive of duty and VAT.
The use of residues in the process, such as recovered vegetable oil, could lower this cost to about €0.56 per litre. Bioethanol derived from sugar beet would cost €0.74 per litre at the refilling station, exclusive of duty and VAT.
The report said that the European Union has called on member-states to include minimum levels of biofuels or other renewable fuels in their transportation fuel supplies and has set non-mandatory targets, including that by December 31st, 2005, biofuels should make up 2 per cent of transport fuels and that by December 31st, 2010, biofuels should make up 5.75 per cent of transport fuels.
According to the SEI report, Ireland could meet approximately 23 per cent of the 2010 target proposed in the EU biofuels directive without imports and assuming no major changes to agricultural practice and land use.
Mr Pearse Buckley of SEI said that all sectors of the economy have a part to play in meeting Ireland's Kyoto targets.
"Specifically in the transport sector, reliance on vehicle efficiency gains, though important, will not maximise wider economic, energy saving and fuel security benefits," he said.
"It may therefore be prudent to build up a viable domestic biofuel production capacity to increase Irish fuel security and achieve greater reductions in CO2 emissions. The CO2 savings from biofuels are approximately a 50 per cent improvement compared to fossil petrol and diesel emissions," he said.
Greenhouse gas emission reductions associated with the use of biofuels in the transportation fuel supply would cost between €300 and €400 per tonne of CO2.
However, the use of residues in the process could bring this cost down to about €100 per tonne of CO2 abated, the report said.