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What can I choose in the calculator?
The calculator lets you choose the share of the liquid transport fuel demand covered by Biofuels in Switzerland in the selected year (2035 or 2050).
Biofuels
Mark Walton, via Wikimedia Commons
IMPACT – What are the impacts of Biofuels?
In Switzerland, increasing the share of Biofuels will have the following impacts:
Energy system
Likely to have limited impact on final energy demand
No impact on electricity consumption or grid balancing.
Reduce total diesel / gasoline consumption.
Likely to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix.
Likely to increase energy independence and energy security.
Environment & Climate
Very likely to reduce global CO2 emissions.
Limited impact on emissions of harmful pollutants or noise.
Adverse impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems are possible, due to land use change and intensive agriculture
Society & Economy
Likely to have limited impact on the cost of the energy transition.
May increase the cost of fuel in the short term.
Likely to have limited impact on total cost for the vehicles owners.
May improve balance of payments by substituting oil imports by domestic biomass.
May boost rural economies by supporting agriculture
Reduces Confederation income from the tax on mineral oil under the current taxation system.
GLOBAL MARKET – What is the global market for Biofuels?
Europe has set a target of 10% renewable energy in transport (on an energy basis) in 2020. Most of this is expected to be fulfilled with biofuels as (renewable) electricity and (renewable) hydrogen will still play a relatively small role by 2020. Of the total transport energy demand in the EU-27, 4.7% (14.4 Mtoe) was met with biofuels (of which 79% was biodiesel, 20% bioethanol and 1% “other”).[1]
DEFINITION / CONSTRAINTS
DEFINITION - What are Biofuels?
The “Biofuels (%)” slider represents the percentage of the demand of fuels for transport that is met with biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel and biogas).
A biofuel is a fuel made from plant material, either as a purpose grown crop or as wastes from other agricultural processes. Common biofuels include bio-ethanol, vegetable oils, fatty-acid methyl esters, and bio-methane gas. Most liquid biofuels are blended into standard pump gasoline and diesel, allowing use with standard engines; use in un-blended form is likely to require engine modification.
Carbon saving is derived from atmospheric carbon absorbed in the growing process, although carbon from agricultural and process energy has to be taken into account.
CONSTRAINTS - What are the key barriers facing Biofuels deployment?
• Standard engines have technical “blend walls”, meaning that only a certain amount of biofuel can be tolerated in the fuel blend.
• Some biofuels can have limited overall carbon benefit or can cause other environmental impacts – careful analysis of the supply path is required.
• Considerations of land use change and environmental impacts limit the availability of biofuels – they cannot replace fossil fuels completely.
• Competition with food production may risk developing world food shortages.
ASSUMPTIONS – What are the assumptions considered in the calculator?
You will find more information about the passenger transport model of the calculator here.
REFERENCES
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biofuel_more.txt · Last modified: 2023/11/16 15:21 by 127.0.0.1
