EFFECTS OF BIOFUELS ON EMISSIONS OF AIR POLLUTANTS

Abstract:
In 2008, important policy developments are taking place in the European Union, in the field of climate change mitigation and air quality improvement. While developing these new policies the European Commission takes into account assumed synergies between climate measures and air polluting emissions. Most of these synergies originate from energy savings and improving energy-efficiency and changes towards a lower-carbon energy production. Examples of specific measures are: fuel switch from coal to gas and stimulating more wind energy and hydropower. The knowledge on effects of such measures on air pollution is generally quite high.

For other important climate measures, such as the use of biofuels in traffic, biomass in stationary installations and carbon capture and storage, impacts on air polluting emissions are not well known. These knowledge gaps impede not only European, but also Asian countries to more accurately assess the future impacts of climate measures on air polluting emissions. In order to fill these knowledge gaps, a policy research programme on air quality and climate change has been set up in the Netherlands. The programme, running for a two-year period, consists of two phases and is carried out by a consortium led by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Other partners in the consortium are CE-Delft, ECOFYS, ECN, TNO and the University of Utrecht. At the Better Air Quality Workshop 2008, the results from the inventory phase on the effects of biofuels on air pollution levels, will be presented. These results indicate, for instance, that there could be a risk of increased levels of air pollution due to road traffic, with a large-scale application of low-blends of biodiesel and bioethanol. Also, the air polluting emissions caused in the production chain of biofuels, could turn out to be higher than those from the production chain of fossil fuels. This is important, because these production-chain emissions can be of a higher magnitude than the end-use (exhaust) emissions. Other information shows conflicting results for the effects of biofuel use on health.