Territorial Distribution Proposal for the Biofuel Consumption Target in the Transportation Sector in Accordance with the EU Energy Policy for 2020
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 4
Abstract
One of the current targets of European Union (EU) energy policy is to reach at least a 10% share of biofuels in fuel consumed for transportation (petrol and diesel) in 2020. However, it has not been specified how this global target should be distributed among the Member States according to its different starting points and potentials. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose a dynamic nonlinear target distribution method for increasing the share of biofuels in fuel consumed for transportation. We applied the proposed distribution based on the following indicators: nonbiofuels in fuel consumed for transportation, nonbiofuels per capita, nonbiofuels per gross domestic product (GDP), and GDP per capita, in the reference year (2005). In addition, a multicriteria analysis was also conducted to weigh the variables in the study. The proposed methodology is innovative, easy-to-use, and attempts to contribute to the political discussion on the importance of territorial weighing of the biofuel consumption target by the real situation in each member state.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Acquaye, A. A., Sherwen, T., Genovese, A., Kuylenstierna, J., Koh, L., and McQueen-Mason, S. (2012). “Biofuels and their potential to aid the UK towards achieving emissions reduction policy targets.” Renew. Sust. Energy Rev., 16, 5414–5422.
Afionis, S., and Stringer, L. C. (2011). “European Union leadership in biofuels regulation: Europe as a normative power?” J. Clean. Prod., 32, 114–123.
Andrews-Speed, P. (2009). “China’s ongoing energy efficiency drive: Origins, progress and prospects.” Energy Policy, 37, 1331–1344.
Atkinson, A. B., Marlier, E., and Nolan, B. (2004). “Indicators and targets for social inclusion in the European Union.” J. Common Market Stud., 42(1), 47–75.
Balat, M. (2005). “Current alternative engine fuels.” Energy Source., 27, 569–577.
Balezentis, A., and Balezentis, T. (2011). “Framework of strategic management model for strategy Europe 2020: Diachronic analysis and proposed guidelines.” Eng. Econ., 22(3), 271–282.
Bomb, C., McCormick, K., Deurwaarder, E., and Kåberger, T. (2007). “Biofuels for transport in Europe: Lessons from Germany and the UK.” Energy Policy, 35, 2256–2267.
Bouquet, D., and Johansson, T. B. (2008). “European renewable energy policy at crossroads—Focus on electricity support mechanisms.” Energy Policy, 36, 4079–4092.
Bozbas, K. (2008). “Biodiesel as an alternative motor fuel: Production and policies in the European Union.” Renew. Sust. Energy Rev., 12, 542–552.
Bringezu, S., O’Brien, M., and Schütz, H. (2012). “Beyond biofuels: Assessing global land use for domestic consumption of biomass. A conceptual and empirical contribution to sustainable management of global resources.” Land Use Policy, 29, 224–232.
Capros, P., Mantzos, L., Tasios, N., De Vita, A., and Kouvaritakis, N. (2010). EU energy trends to 2030—Update 2009, Directorate-General for Energy–European Commission, Climate Action DG and Mobility and Transport DG, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
Charters, W. W. S. (2001). “Developing markets for renewable energy technologies.” Renewable Energy, 22, 217–222.
Codogno, L., Odinet, G., and Padrini, F. (2009a). “The use of targets in the Lisbon Strategy.” Rivista di Politica Economica., January–March, 3–21.
Codogno, L., Odinet, G., and Padrini, F. (2009b). “The use of targets in the Lisbon Strategy.” Econ. Focus, 14, 1–16.
Council of the European Union. (2007). Brussels European Council 8/9 March 2007, Presidency conclusions, (7224/1/07). Brussels, Belgium.
Demirbas, A. (2007). “Importance of biodiesel as transportation fuel.” Energy Policy, 35, 4661–4670.
Demirbas, A. (2009a). “Biofuels securing the planet’s future energy needs.” Energy Convers. Manage., 50, 2239–2249.
Demirbas, A. (2009b). “Political, economic and environmental impacts of biofuels: A review.” Appl. Energy, 86, S108–S117.
Dincer, I. (1999). “Environmental impacts of energy.” Energy Policy, 27, 845–854.
Dincer, I. (2000). “Renewable energy and sustainable development: A crucial review.” Renew. Sust. Energy Rev., 4, 157–175.
Dincer, I., and Rosen, M. A. (1998). “A worldwide perspective on energy, environment and sustainable development.” Int. J. Energy Res., 22(15), 1305–1321.
Ekins, P., Simon, S., Deutsch, L., Folke, C., and De Groot, R. (2003). “A framework for the practical application of the concepts of critical natural capital and strong sustainability.” Ecol. Econ., 44, 165–185.
Elliott, D. (2000). “Renewable energy and sustainable futures.” Futures, 32, 261–274.
Escobar, J. C., Lora, E. S., Venturini, O. J., Yáñez, E. E., Castillo, E. F., and Almazan, O. (2009). “Biofuels: Environment, technology and food security.” Renew. Sust. Energy Rev., 13, 1275–1287.
European Communities (EC). (2006). European energy and transport. Scenarios on energy efficiency and renewables. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Brussels, Belgium.
European Communities (EC). (2009). “Statistical pocketbook 2009.” 〈http://ec.europa.eu/energy/publications/statistics/statistics_en.htm〉 (Mar. 12, 2010).
European Parliament and European Council. (2003). “Directive 2003/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 May 2003 on the promotion of the use of biofuels and other renewable fuels for transport.” Brussels, Belgium.
European Parliament and European Council. (2008). “Regulation (EC) No. 1099/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 on energy statistics.” Brussels, Belgium.
European Parliament and European Council. (2009). “Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC.” Brussels, Belgium.
European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). (2008). “Renewable energy technology roadmap 20% by 2020.” European Renewable Energy Council. Brussels, Belgium.
European Union (EU). (2005). “Green paper on energy efficiency or doing more with less, COM (2005), 265 [final].” Brussels, Belgium.
European Union (EU). (2006). “Green paper on an energy strategy for sustainable, competitive and secure energy. COM (2006), 0105.” Brussels, Belgium.
Eurostat. (2005). Regions–statistical yearbook 2004, EC, Brussels, Belgium.
Eurostat. (2012a). “GISCO (the Geographical Information System at the Commission).” 〈http://epp.Eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/gisco_Geographical_information_maps/introduction〉 (Jul. 1, 2012).
Eurostat. (2012b). “Statistical Office of the European Communities–EUROSTAT.” 〈http://epp.Eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/Eurostat/home/〉 (Dec. 10, 2012).
Frondel, M., and Peters, J. (2007). “Biodiesel: A new Oildorado?” Energy Policy, 35, 1675–1684.
Gnansounou, E. (2011). “Assessing the sustainability of biofuels: A logic-based model.” Energy, 36, 2089–2096.
Hass, H., Larivé, J., and Mahieu, V. (2003). “Well-to-wheels analysis of future automotive fuels and powertrains in the European context.” EUCAR.
Huang, J., Yang, J., Msangi, S., Rozelle, S., and Weersink, A. (2012). “Biofuels and the poor: Global impact pathways of biofuels on agricultural markets.” Food Policy, 37, 439–451.
Ioannou, D., Ferdinandusse, M., Duca, M., and Coussens, W. (2008). “Benchmarking the Lisbon strategy.” Occasional Paper Series No. 85, European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Janssen, R., Rutz, D., Helm, P., Woods, J., and Diaz-Chavez, R. (2009). “Bioenergy for sustainable development in Africa–Environmental and social aspects.” COMPETE project document, EU-funded COMPETE Bioenergy Competence Platform for Africa, Munich, Germany.
Klessmann, C., Held, A., Rathmann, M., and Ragwitz, M. (2011). “Status and perspectives of renewable energy policy and deployment in the European Union—What is needed to reach the 2020 targets?” Energy Policy, 39, 7637–7657.
Kondili, E. M., and Kaldellis, J. K. (2007). “Biofuel implementation in East Europe: Current status and future prospects.” Renew. Sust. Energy Rev., 11, 2137–2151.
Kowalski, K., Stagl, S., Madlener, R., and Omann, I. (2009). “Sustainable energy futures: Methodological challenges in combining scenarios and participatory multi-criterion analysis.” Eur. J. Oper. Res., 197, 1063–1074.
Larson, E. (2006). “A review of life-cycle analysis studies on liquid biofuel systems for the transport sector.” Energy Sust. Dev., X(2), 109–126.
Lechón, Y., Cabal, H., de la Rúa, C., Caldés, N., Santamaría, M., and Saéz, R. (2009). “Energy and greenhouse gas emission savings of biofuels in Spain’s transport fuel. The adoption of the EU policy on biofuels.” Biomass Bioenergy, 33, 920–932.
Lensink, S., and Londo, M. (2010). “Assessment of biofuels supporting policies using the BioTrans model.” Biomass Bioenergy, 34, 218–226.
Levidow, L. (2013). “EU criteria for sustainable biofuels: Accounting for carbon, depoliticising plunder.” Geoforum, 44, 211–223.
Lund, H. (2007). “Renewable energy strategies for sustainable development.” Energy, 32, 912–919.
Magar, S. B., Pelkonen, P., Tahvanainen, L., Toivonen, R., and Toppinen, A. (2011). “Growing trade of bioenergy in the EU: Public acceptability, policy harmonization, European standards and certification needs.” Biomass Bioenergy, 35, 3318–3327.
Omer, A. M. (2008). “Energy, environment and sustainable development.” Renew. Sust. Energy Rev., 12, 2265–2300.
Pallemaerts, M., Herodes, M., and Adelle, C. (2007). “Does the EU sustainable development strategy contribute to environmental policy integration?” EPIGOV Paper 9.
Reiche, D. (2006). “Renewable energies in the EU-accession states.” Energy Policy, 34(3), 365–375.
Rosen, M. A. (1996). “The role of energy efficiency in sustainable development.” Technol. Soc., 15(4), 21–26.
Russi, D. (2008). “An integrated assessment of a large-scale biodiesel production in Italy: Killing several birds with one stone?” Energy Policy, 36, 1169–1180.
Scheller, A. (1999). “Researchers’ use of indicators.” CEPE Working Paper 1, Centre for Energy Policy and Economics of ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sims, R. E. H., Mabee, W., Saddler, J. N., and Taylor, M. (2010). “An overview of second generation biofuel technologies.” Bioresource Technol., 101, 1570–1580.
Smyth, B. M., Ó Gallachóir, B. P., Korres, N. E., and Murphy, J. D. (2010). “Can we meet targets for biofuels and renewable energy in transport given the constraints imposed by policy in agriculture and energy?” J. Clean. Prod., 18, 1671–1685.
Somerville, C. (2007). “Biofuels.” Curr. Biol., 17(4), R115–R119.
Streimikiene, D., and Šivickas, G. (2008). “The EU sustainable energy policy indicators framework.” Environ. Int., 34, 1227–1240.
Timilsina, G. R., and Shrestha, A. (2011). “How much hope should we have for biofuels?” Energy, 36, 2055–2069.
Turcksin, L., et al. (2011). “A multi-actor multi-criteria framework to assess the stakeholder support for different biofuel options: The case of Belgium.” Energy Policy, 39, 200–214.
Vera, I., and Langlois, L. (2007). “Energy indicators for sustainable development.” Energy, 32, 875–882.
Wiesenthal, T., et al. (2009). “Biofuel support policies in Europe: Lessons learnt for the long way ahead.” Renew. Sust. Energy Rev., 13, 789–800.
Zah, R., and Ruddy, T. F. (2009). “International trade in biofuels: An introduction to the special issue.” J. Clean. Prod., 17, S1–S3.
Zhang, G., and Long, W. (2010). “A key review on energy analysis and assessment of biomass resources for a sustainable future.” Energy Policy, 38, 2948–2955.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 4 • December 2013
Pages: 253 - 265
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 2, 2010
Accepted: Mar 25, 2013
Published online: Apr 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Sep 1, 2013
Published in print: Dec 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.