[Strawbale] News about Pure Plant Oil for Transportation - Political support for Pure Plant Oil on European level.

Fri Jul 5 18:35:30 CEST 2002

[I admit that this email doesnt really belong to this list.
But the drawing does... 
Best Regards
Lars Keller]

News about Pure Plant Oil for Transportation - July 4th., 2002

  a.. Strong political support for the Pure Plant Oil Approach from the
European Parliament.
  b.. Germany continues and enlarges the tax exemption on biofuels.
  c.. Denmark still rejects biofuels.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Strong political support for the Pure Plant Oil Approach from the European
Parliament.

On July 2nd, the European Parliament voted almost unanimously for (540 for,
1 against) the report from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
regarding the Commission's proposal on an amendment of the mineral oil
directive (92/81/EEC). The mineral oil directive has hitherto formed the
strongest barrier towards the utilisation of biofuels as engine fuel, as
basically biofuels shall be taxed corresponding to the fossil fuel which
they are replacing.

On 7 November 2002 the Commission proposed a directive (COM (2001) 547)
which would allow the member states to give up to a 50% tax reduction on
biofuels in relation to the corresponding fossil fuels. This proposal
encouraged centralised large-scale production and mixing of biofuels with
fossil fuels. The proposal totally ignored the possibility of using Pure
Plant Oil as engine fuel.

In contrast to the original proposal from the Commission, the Committee on
Economic and Monetary Affairs emphasises in their report that Pure Plant Oil
is the best long-term solution with the largest economic, social and
environmental benefits. The Committee calls for a clear distinction between
The Pure Plant Oil (edible) and the chemically modified vegetable/animal
oil, and suggests differentiated taxation where the Pure Plant Oil should
get full tax exemption because of its obvious advantages. Furthermore the
Committee suggests that the Pure Plant Oil should receive additional
encouragement due to greater initial obstacles.

The most environmentally friendly biofuels should obtain the greatest
advantages. Aspects as such as consideration of environmental impact by
cultivation, energy demand and environmental impact in connection with the
manufacturing process of the final biofuel, as well as the value of
by-products such as protein oilcakes from rape seed should be included.

Read the report from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the
comments from 3 advisory Committees online, or download the report in PDF
format in the following languages

English , German , Spanish , French , Italian , Dutch , Portuguese , Finish
, Swedish , Danish , Greek

Related links:

  a.. The original proposals for directives from the Commission, November
7th 2001.
  b.. Other manifestations on the proposal from the Commission.

Germany continues and enlarges the tax exemption on biofuels.

Germany, having occupied the leading position on biofuel technology,
recently decided to continue the full tax exemption on biofuels until 2008.
This happened on June 7th, when the German Parliament adopted the 2nd law
for amending the mineral oil taxation law, which was presented by SPD and
the Green Party. The law also includes biogas as a fuel, which is produced
and fed into the gas network at a different location from  where the energy
is used.

In the Explanatory Memorandum, the advantages and problems are pointed out
and explained.

  a.. Consequently the use of biomass will lead to a CO2 reduction depending
on the applied biomass and method for production. The CO2 reduction from
Pure Plant Oil is accentuated as far greater than the CO2 reduction from
Biodiesel.
  b.. Biofuels substantially increase the security of fuel supplies.
  c.. Production of biofuels will lead to increased employment in the range
of 16-26 new jobs per 1000 tons of petroleum equivalent per year. Taking
Biodiesel production as an example, it will create 50 times more jobs than
the corresponding amount of fossil fuel.
  d.. Full tax exemption is necessary if the biofuels should be competitive
on the fuel market. Partial tax exemption can be introduced later when the
price on fossil fuels as expected will rise as a result of shortage, and
when the production price for biofuels will drop because of more effective
production.
  e.. The environmental impact of cultivation should be taken into
consideration, and the most environmentally friendly cultivation methods
should be preferred.
  f.. Utilisation of biomass originating from maintenance of nature and
countryside conservation areas, will create new jobs and ensure a
budget-independent financing of the countryside maintenance measures.
  g.. As a rule, the emissions from biofuels are less than from the fossil
fuels. Biofuels are practically free of sulphur, and when biofuels are used
in optimised engines, better results are expected.
  h.. Production of biomass from short cycle forestry creates a relatively
low environmental impact as there is no use of chemical fertiliser,
pesticides etc.
  i.. Anyone who works in the field of alternative fuels will find that
enormous markets are waiting. Like the German Feed-in law on electricity
from Renewable Energies, the present act will create the basis for the
technological development of biofuels and a leading role for Germany in a
market for future technology. Technical development can be expected on three
levels at once: in the cultivation of vegetable raw materials, in conversion
into biofuels and in propulsion technology.
  j.. The demand on biofuels will create a market for innovative
agro-technical products. This new market will create new opportunities for
countries acceding to the EU, some of which have a strong agricultural
sector. This will also lessen the pressure of competition on the German
farmers from the farmers in the acceding countries.
The above mentioned advantages on the new markets is naturally also valid
for other countries which open up for the new opportunities in time. In
contrast, if countries consciously obstruct the new technologies, they will
be overtaken and sidetracked.

Extracts of the new act and the explanatory memorandum concerning biofuels
are available in German and English.

Read also the press release from EUROSOLAR.

Denmark still rejects biofuels.

Denmark is still rejecting biofuels for transportation. The new government
has inherited well known counterarguments such as

  a.. Replacement of fossil fuels with biofuels is an expensive method to
reduce the CO2 emission.
  b.. Biomass should be reserved for co-generation because this is the
cheapest way of utilising biomass in Denmark.
  c.. The proposal from the EU will probably not increase the employment.
  d.. The proposal can be considered as an attempt to indirectly support the
agricultural sector.
  e.. Utilisation of biofuels for transportation will lead to higher costs
for transportation.
  f.. Increased cultivation of biofuels on set-aside land will lead to
negative impact on the environment.
  g.. The improvement of security of fuel supplies will be limited.
These arguments appear in an answer from the Danish Minister of Tax to the
Committee of Tax in the Danish Government.

As it appears, the Danish Government disagrees with its European colleges.
The argument that biomass should be reserved for co-generation is a very
narrow consideration, and the point in this is first of all that coal based
power production with low efficiency are replaced by power and heat
production from co-generation with high efficiency. But biomass covers a
wide range of solutions, and many different technologies are necessary for
utilising the different biomass product for the purpose which is most
practical and reasonable seen in an overall perspective. As an example, Pure
Plant Oil can be used directly in its natural form to substitute fossil
diesel fuel, and the straw can be used for co-generation. In contrast, it is
very extensive to convert the straw to engine fuel.

With regards to biofuels Denmark is hopelessly behind. It is a fact that a
stagnation in the world production of petroleum is just ahead of us, and
that the clean technologies like hydrogen are still waiting in the far
future. Therefore action has to be taken now. Hopefully the positive and
well proved signals from the international political arena will be
recognised and understood by the Danish Government, who with the
Chairmanship of the EU has the opportunity to promote biofuels as a solution
for today.

This newsletter is available online on
http://www.folkecenter.dk/plant-oil/PPOnews_04072002.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Yes, please send me news about vegetable oil as fuel

No, please don´t send me more news about vegetable oil as fuel

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

  Folkecenter for Renewable Energy

  Kammersgaardsvej 16, DK-7760 Hurup Thy, Denmark
  Web : www.folkecenter.dk , email : plantoil at folkecenter...
  tel : +45 97 95 66 00 , fax +45 97 95 65 65
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: danish_CfPOT_sm.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 2556 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://amper.ped.muni.cz/pipermail/strawbale/attachments/20020705/954b13a1/attachment-0001.gif>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: straw_car_400.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 18473 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://amper.ped.muni.cz/pipermail/strawbale/attachments/20020705/954b13a1/attachment-0001.jpg>