Madam, – Tom Bruton and his colleagues in the Irish Bioenergy Association (January 28th) should be commended for seeking opportunities to promote Irish participation in the biofuels sector, but not at the expense of taxpayers and consumers.
The cost of the Biofuels Obligation Scheme to come into force later this year will be borne by consumers. It makes sense to meet our EU obligation to ensure a minimum share of renewables in transport fuels as cheaply as possible. The tropics can convert sunlight to energy more efficiently than we can in our cold northern climate. In Ireland, you would have to plant 24 hectares with rapeseed just to power one bus for a year, and the greenhouse gas savings are negligible if the indirect land use change effects are taken into account. Thus it makes sense to rely on cheaper imported biofuels which provide greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to meet our biofuel obligation until electric cars (powered by renewable wind energy) become more widespread. Mr Bruton’s call for a Nama for biofuel production whereby the State would pay over the odds for the certificates associated with the production of domestic biofuel should be firmly rejected. – Yours, etc,