1.3        Geographical assessment

The geographical features of a country determine the environment in which the production of organic material is feasible, but how they exploit and how they utilize it usually depend on the historical, economic and political situation of each country.

Even though biofuels provide, in particular for the transport sector, an abundant resource of energy, which could be effectively used for commercial purposes, it is still a source much under-utilised. Even though the market for bioenergy is developing fast, the current share of biofuels is no more than around 3% of that of natural gas. It is expected that the use of energy in the world by 2020 will have increased by at least 50% compared to 1990. It means that biofuels, contributing to the reduction of the use of conventional sources, will have an important role even with increased energy utilization.

Today biofuels are produced commercially and some countries use them extensively. In tropical and subtropical countries for example, alcohols derived from sugar cane are commonly used as motor fuels or additives. In Brazil, three billion gallons of ethanol are produced each year from sugar cane, supplying a large percentage of the country's automotive fuel needs. The world's other major producer of ethanol is the United States, where ethanol from corn is blended with gasoline up to 5 - 10%. Other countries are now developing bioethanol industries, notably Spain, France and Sweden, but Australia, Canada and Thailand can also be mentioned.

In 2001 the ethanol production of Europe grew by 13% making an output of 216 000 tons. The largest European producer is France, followed by Spain, which is on the way to capture a first place position.

Country	Ethanol production in 2001 (in tons)
France	91 000
Spain	80 000
Sweden	20 000
Total in the European Union	191 000

 

Source: EurObserv’ER 2002

The European biodiesel production during 2001 rose by more than 20% to reach a total of 853 700 tons. The largest producers are France and Germany.

 

Source: EurObserv’ER 2002

Electricity produced from biogas increased from an estimated 5 000 GWh in 1990 to 12 048 GWh in 2000. While in the early 1990s, nearly the entire amount of biogas electricity was produced in the United States, the largest proportion of this production has moved to OECD Europe, which today contributes 54.5% of biogas electricity. Although OECD Europe, as a whole, is the largest production region, most biogas production is in the European Union member countries.    Whereas the United States,  with 4 984 GWh,  remains the largest individual producer, its growth of 6.4% per annum has been much slower than that of many European Union countries. Two of the member states stand out in particular, claiming 64.5% of the European production. Great Britain, which produced 2 556 GWh of biogas electricity in 2000, is undoubtedly the leader of the sector. The second largest producer is Germany, having an average annual growth rate of 23.4% (reaching 1 683 GWh in 2000), followed by Italy with 566 GWh (60.3%) and France with 346 GWh (14.4%).

Country	Crude biogas production in 2001 (in thousands of toe)	Biogas production potential by the year 2020 (in thousands of toe)
The UK	1 085	2271
Germany	530	3 419
France	170	3682
Italy	145	1 626
The Netherlands	150	1 172
Sweden	122	383
Spain	101	1 578
Denmark	72	765
Belgium	50	765
Austria	35	526
Ireland	25	1 028
Finland	25	263
Portugal	7	311
Luxembourg	2	31
Greece	2	167
Total in the EU	2 521	17 987

Source: EurObserv’ER 2002, Solargo