Feature
E10 petrol, is it worth it? From September 1st 2021, E10 petrol became readily available at all UK petrol stations as part of the government’s plan to ‘build back greener.’ Pippa Neill investigates the true environmental benefits of this roll out.
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p until the start of this month, the standard petrol grade in the UK was E5, meaning the petrol contains around 5% ethanol. Ethanol is a biofuel, meaning unlike fossil fuels it is produced from the fermentation of crops such as sugar or wheat and so inevitably it has a substantially lower carbon footprint. In a bid to capitalize on the carbon savings that come from using biofuels and in order to comply with the 2008 Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, the government has now increased the standard petrolgrade to contain 10% ethanol - known as E10 petrol.
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Andy Eastlake, chief executive officer at Zemo Partnership, the organisation who have worked with the government on the ongoing E10 marketing campaign explains: ‘Over the years, the focus when it comes to the decarbonisation of transport has been on the technology of the vehicles. But another piece of the jigsaw is looking to see whether we can decarbonise the fuel.’ According to the government, the introduction of E10 could cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 350,000 tonnes every single year, equivalent to the annual CO2 uptake of a forest the size of the Isle of Wight.
airqualitynews.com
Climate concerns However, various environmental groups have expressed concerns around these claims. Greg Archer, UK director of campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) tells Air Quality News: ‘The problem with ethanol is how are these biofuels produced in the first place? ‘For example, wheat that would otherwise have been going to the wheat market is now being used for biofuels, and that means that somebody elsewhere is going to have to grow that wheat. ‘Ethanol also needs an awful lot of land to produce a
