A report on the February 2002 workshop and questionnaire of the UK Institute of Biology
Background
At a time when the projected availability of conventionally cheap oil reserves can be measured in decades, and with the UK increasingly strategically vulnerable to any potential external disruption in its supplies, it is prudent to explore alternative energy options. Furthermore, given environmental concerns - such as acid rain and greenhouse gases - and related UK international commitments (such as Kyoto), it would be foolish not to identify possible non-fossil energy options. To this end the Institute of Biology, Institute of Physics and Royal Society of Chemistry were part-sponsored by the Foresight programme of the Office of Science and Technology, within the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry, to explore three areas of alternatives likely to provide practical solutions. Each of the three Royal Chartered scientific bodies ran a specialist workshop under Chatham House rules to identify solutions to Britain's forthcoming energy concerns. Each workshop was to be on a potential energy resource for the 21st century. Each would then identify opportunities and problems before charting the next steps forward. Of the three Fuelling the Future workshops, the third was run by the Agricultural Sciences Committee of the Institute of Biology together with a number of the specialist Affiliated Societies represented on it, especially the British Crop Protection Council. The energy option this workshop explored was that of biofuels. The information in this report stems from the workshop itself as well as a pre-workshop questionnaire and material subsequently submitted by participants.
It is worth noting that in addition to the above energy concerns, UK biofuels' potential is most relevant to the current public and political debates taking place regarding the future of farming and the countryside. Biofuel production could add value and diversity to agricultural enterprises and have a sustainable impact on the rural economy in many parts of the UK.
Principal questions
The principal questions addressed were:
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