Finland’s Parliament votes to increase share of biofuels in road traffic to 30%
07 February 2019
The Parliament of Finland has voted in favor of a law for gradually increasing the share of biofuels in road traffic to 30% by 2029. In addition, the Parliament has approved a law for the distribution obligation of bio-based light fuel oil.
According to the new law, a share of light fuel oil intended for heating, construction machines and fitted motors will be replaced by bio-based fuel oil starting in 2021.
The supreme decision-making authority in Finland is exercised by Parliament. Parliament enacts legislation, approves the state budget, ratifies international treaties and oversees the Government. The Finnish parliament is unicameral and has 200 members.
This begs the question of the source of this "bio-based light fuel oil". I believe Finland is big in forestry products and has considerable amounts of "tall oil" as a byproduct of pine trees, so that might be it.
There is very little in English on this subject. One of the few hits for the phrase is this Neste press release on the law which has no details either.
I'm reminded of the EPA's mandated levels for blending of cellulosic ethanol in US gasoline. The mandates were higher than production, so the blenders were threatened with fines for things beyond their control.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 07 February 2019 at 06:00 AM
Finland has a more practical approach than the US cellulosic ethanol mandate. Finland is already a world leader in biofuel technology. Neste Diesel is produced from waste fats, residues, and vegetable oils. UPM BioVerno biofuel is made from wood-based tall oil. St1 Biofuels ethanol is made from bakery and supermarket waste.
The new law or Renewable Energy Directive will not allow double accounting so it will be a lot tougher to achieve. However, Finland has not reached the transport electrification like Nordic neighbors of Norway and Sweden. So if BEV and PHEV attain the levels expected by 2030 and Oil consumption declines then this will help the goal being met.
Finally, Finland to support increased EV is still investing in Nuclear which already accounts for 33% of Finland electricity. The long delayed Olkiluoto 3 1600 MW reactor should come online in 2020. They are even investing in pumped hydro which is pretty good considering is not mountainous (the Pyhäjärvi pumped hydro energy storage uses an old mine).
Posted by: Account Deleted | 09 February 2019 at 01:50 PM