What are biofuels?
Biofuels are fossil fuel substitutes that can be made from a range of agri-crop materials including oilseeds, wheat and sugar. They can be blended in small quantities (currently up to 5%) with petrol and diesel and used safely in today's road vehicles. Biofuel technology has been around as long as the combustion engine, but concerns about fuel security, climate change, and the wish to support rural economies has led to plans for significant expansion in biofuel production across the globe, and has also stimulated research and development into 'second generation' fuels. (These advanced biofuels are not yet commercially available, but offer the prospect of better environmental performance and of using a wider range of feedstocks, including waste.)
This note is taken from DEFRA's biofuels factsheet published in October 2007. For more details, please see the full fact sheet.