Tag Archives: Germany

German motorists avoid filling with bioethanol

May 24, 2011   Karl   No comments

German motorists avoiding biofuels

The Germans have a famous passion for automobiles, but it has run smack into European Union directives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. So rather than ask German drivers to give up those highly tuned Mercedes or BMWs, the government is offering them “E10″ — gas mixed with 10 percent ethanol, produced from corn and wheat.

But there are two problems: German car lovers are refusing to buy it and environmentalists say it’s no greener than regular gas.

At a gas station in Berlin, Franziska Muller fills up her Volkswagen Polo on her way home from work. Its shiny, waxed finish mirrors her immaculately put-together business attire. And even though it’s cheaper, the 32-year-old says there’s no way she is going to risk putting the new 10 percent ethanol gas into her car.

“You bet I’m worried about my car — most of all about the motor,” Muller says. “Nobody can guarantee that it won’t get damaged. Of course, it means I pay a bit more for gas, but for now there’s no way I’m touching the stuff.”

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BAFA: Germany consumed 780 million gallons of biodiesel in 2010

March 16, 2011   Karl   No comments
biodiesel pump

Ethiopia gets geared up for biodiesel

Germany’s Federal Office for Economy and Export Control (BAFA) released figures recently on the nation’s total biodiesel sales in 2010. BAFA reports that approximately 2.6 million metric tons (780.5 million gallons) of biodiesel was sold into the German fuel market last year. A majority of that, about 2.3 million tons, was sold for blending into the 32.1 million ton German diesel fuel market, which comes to slightly more than 7 percent.

The German oilseed council UFOP commented on the numbers, stating, “Biodiesel will remain an alternative fuel of great importance in the future … the consumption of diesel will continue to rise due to the constantly higher quantities of goods transported by road.”

The council then said, “Besides, so-called second-generation fuels replacing diesel will not be available for a foreseeable time, UFOP is convinced. So UFOP confirms the necessity that biodiesel should be conceded a future both as pure fuel and as admixture in motor fuel. There is no other way of meeting the climate targets in the transport sector.”

While Germany consumed more than 780 million gallons of biodiesel last year, the U.S. only produced 315 million gallons of biodiesel in 2010, according to preliminary data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Thanks and Source biodieselmagazine.com

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New biofuel standard coming to German pumps in 2011

December 29, 2010   Karl   No comments
Biofuel pump

New biofuel standard coming to German pumps in 2011

As of January 1, 2011, German drivers will have the option to fuel up their cars with new Super E10, a biofuel with higher ethanol content. The change is part of Germany’s plan to incrementally decrease its carbon emissions, with the goal of an 80 percent reduction by 2050. But for everyday German drivers, the cost of the new biofuel is still a relative unknown, and the subject of much speculation.

Previously, biofuel in Germany only had five percent ethanol content, whereas E10 packs a solid 10 percent ethanol, an increase that should prove more environmentally friendly.

The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) estimates that around 90 percent of existing German cars will be E10-compatible. Those vehicles unable to run on E10 can keep using the five percent variety until it is phased out in 2013.

E10 will be available from the more than 14,000 service stations throughout the country as of the first of the year.

According to the BMU, the higher ethanol gasoline will have a decreased impact on the environment in terms of carbon emissions and will reduce consumer reliance on diminishing oil reserves. The initiative is also designed to bring Germany into compliance with a European Commission directive seeking an EU-wide greenhouse gas emission savings of 60 percent from 2018 onwards.

The cost to the consumer is one contentious issue that is being batted around between the various groups interested in the project. As the cost of producing ethanol biofuel is higher than regular gasoline, the BMU expects the price at the pump to increase slightly as well.

“With the introduction of E10 come additional costs for the production of bioethanol and the maintenance of fuel quality,” the ministry said.

But the German Association for the Biofuel Industry contended that prices will not increase significantly.

“Ethanol will not be much more expensive than gasoline,” association president Claus Sauter told press agency dpa. “In addition, the petroleum industry itself is interested in selling E10, because it is legally obliged to bring biofuels to market.”

On the other side of the issue, the spokesman for BP Europe told Bonn’s General Anzeiger newspaper, “For drivers, the price will always be higher,” estimating an increased cost of 50 percent over normal petrol.


Another bone of contention is the actual environmental impact of the new biofuel due to something called indirect land use. This is essentially the consequence of changing the use of land in order to produce crops used in biofuel production. As more arable land is used to produce biofuel, the increased land clearance to grow food crops has the knock-on effect of higher carbon emissions.

Originally, the Commission had anticipated enacting its directive 98/70/EC, requiring member states to report on the greenhouse gas intensity of fuel and energy, starting on January 1, 2011.

According to the directive, suppliers are required to gradually reduce life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent by the end of 2020 at the latest.

But shortly before the January kick-off date for the initiative, the European Commission published a report on indirect land use change related to biofuels. It found that the ramifications of indirect land use required more investigation before it could proceed with the directive.

“The potential effects of indirect land use need to be properly weighed in our biofuels policy. It is in our interest to investigate this seriously and ensure legislation that avoids negative side effects,” energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger said.

The result of its findings led the Commission to delay its biofuel directive until July of 2011.

In Germany, however, the BMU claims that many of the required elements for biofuel production are locally and sustainably grown.

Source and thanks dw-world.de

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Germany temporarily relaxes rule on biofuel sustainability

December 15, 2010   Karl   No comments

Germany relaxes rule on biofuel sustainability

Germany has temporarily relaxed rules requiring raw materials for biofuels come from sustainable output, a move which industry bodies said on Wednesday will smooth imports of rapeseed and rapeseed oil for biodiesel use.

“This was a central demand and will prevent a looming threat to imports,” said a spokesman for German oilseeds industry association UFOP. “There will now be enough flexibility and an interruption to trade will be avoided.”

Only Germany and Austria will implement the European Union’s Renewable Fuels Directive on schedule on January 1, 2011, which requires that biofuels are produced from crops certified as sustainably farmed.

The directive aims to protect tropical rain forests being cut down for biofuel crop production. But German industry associations had feared the failure of other EU states to implement the rule on time would mean Germany would not have been able to import non-certified rapeseed and rapeseed oil from other EU states in 2011.

The German government now says it will allow a more flexible calculation of certified biofuel feedstocks for a temporary period up to June 30, 2011.

The government has accepted requests from the oilseeds industry that oil mills and traders should be permitted to create balance sheets of their sustainable supplies over a 12 month period instead of three months.

“Say a German trader has 10,000 tonnes of sustainable rapeseed from German production and imports 10,000 tonnes from Poland which are not certified,” the UFOP spokesman said. “Under the new rule the 10,000 tonnes from Germany could be sold for food use where certificates are not needed.”

“The 10,000 tonnes from Poland could then be sold to the German biodiesel industry because the sustainability certificates from the German rapeseed were not used and can be counted against the transaction.”

“Previously the balance period was only three months which would have made many such trades impossible.”

Frank Bruehning, spokesman for biofuels industry association VDB added: “We greatly welcome this move as it will prevent any interruption to feedstock imports.”

Germany imports about two million tonnes of rapeseed annually for food and biodiesel production.

“The change is limited to June 2011 so we now hope that other EU states will also introduce the EU directive otherwise we will be faced with the problem again,” the UFOP spokesman said.

Source: Reuters

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Germany to raise it’s bioethanol blending in gasoline

October 26, 2010   Karl

Germany to raise bioethanol blending in gasoline

The German cabinet will vote on Wednesday on a proposal to raise the maximum level of bioethanol allowed in blended gasoline to 10 percent in January 2011 from 5 percent now, the country’s environment ministry said on Monday.

The move is part of Germany’s efforts to meet European Union plans to raise biofuel use to protect the environment, it said.

Analysts said the increase would help boost demand for grain next year, but there also would be tough competition from sugar and imported bioethanol.

“Currently sugar is looking most competitive for bioethanol output after the sharp rise in grain prices this year,” one analyst said. “But overall there is likely to be increased demand for both grains and sugar, so more blending will be positive news for producers.”

Introduction of fuels with higher bioethanol content has in the past been controversial because of fears of engine damage to older cars.

The ministry said about 90 percent of German automobiles would be capable of using fuels with the higher blend level, which will be clearly labeled at petrol stations.

Germany’s large bioethanol industry, which mostly uses grain and sugar as feedstock, has been hoping for the change for some time.

Grains futures surged to two-year highs in early August, almost doubling from June lows as a drought devastated Russia‘s harvest and the country announced a grain export ban.

Germany consumed about 1.2 million tonnes of grain for bioethanol output in 2009, the German state alcohol production supervision agency BMB said. This compared with a German 2009 grain crop of 43.7 million tonnes.

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