eFuels
eFuels are produced with the help of electricity from renewable energy sources, water and CO2 from the air. In contrast to conventional fuels, they do not release additional CO2 but are climate neutral in their use phase. Thanks to their compatibility with today’s internal combustion engines, eFuels can also power vehicles, airplanes and ships, thus allowing them to continue to operate but in a climate-friendly manner. The same applies to all heating systems and industrial applications that use liquid and gaseous fuels. Existing transport, distribution and fuel/gas infrastructures can also continue to be used.
What are eFuels?
eFuels are produced with electricity from renewable sources, water and CO2 and are a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Hydrogen is always the basis for all eFuels. In European regulation eFuels are described as Renewable Fuels of non-biological Origin (RFNBO). In lifecycle assessments eFuels often achieve a CO2 reduction in comparison to fossil fuels of more than 90 %.
Global Energy Potentials & Efficiency
eFuels have a low technical efficiency in comparison to direct electrification. This can be compensated if eFuels are produced in regions with abundant potential of renewable electricity generation. Sustainable solar and wind energy generated abroad is crucial to make eFuels production efficient. The better capacity factor of wind and solar in certain regions is compensating most of the efficiency losses. There is sufficient renewable energy potential worldwide that can be stored with eFuels and distributed via existing infrastructure.
Energy security
The supply of secure, sustainable and affordable energy is a major challenge. Reserves of fossil fuels are largely concentrated in a few regions of the world, which increases dependence on individual states. The potential of renewable energies, on the other hand, is much more diversely distributed. Storage by means of eFuels makes these potentials usable and distributable. eFuels can therefore contribute to a sustainable and diverse energy system.
Costs & Outlook
Currently, the necessary political framework conditions are lacking to enable eFuels production on an industrial scale, such as CO2-based taxation of fuels, or ambitious quotas for road, aviation and maritime sector. Due to first binding mandates in 2030, eFuels will be available soon and thus the market ramp-up to the point of complete replacement of conventional fuels in 2050.
Applications
Existing means of transport and heating can be converted environmentally friendly by using eFuels. For example, means of transport such as trucks or airplanes, as well as construction machinery and oil-fired heating systems, for which there is not yet a sensible technical alternative as a means of propulsion, can be operated in a climate-neutral manner. eFuels can also be used in the offroad sector or in industry.
Advantages
eFuels offer many ecological and economic benefits. They are climate-friendly, compatible with conventional engines and easy to use. Their usage does not require any conversion and they can be distributed via existing tank and distribution infrastructures. Energy cooperation in the production of eFuels generates value added in partner countries, leads to technology exports and diversifies the EU’s energy imports.
Our Political Recommendations
We believe that a regulatory approach open to all technologies, and hence the promotion of synthetic liquid and gaseous fuels, is the most efficient path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In this way sustainability, innovation, competition and acceptance can all be reconciled.
Through the production and use of hydrogen-based products such as eFuels, Europe can be at the forefront of global technology and thus also secure its competitiveness as a location for industry. This requires a regulatory framework and appropriate market conditions. It is the task of the European Union to guarantee a holistic approach to setting the necessary production requirements and regulatory standards, including for eFuels.
In the beginning quotas and mandates in combination with high penalties for non-compliance are necessary to initiative a demand. Investors and project developers can estimate a clear future demand and marginal costs. More eFuels will also result in more CO2 reduction. The eFuel Alliance wants to achieve at least 5% eFuels in the European fuel market by 2030. Therefore, quotas in the Renewable Energy Directive, FuelEU maritime and ReFuelEU aviation have to be increased in the next reviews.
The positive contribution that eFuels and sustainable biofuels can make to climate protection must be taken into account in energy taxation. The tax rate for low carbon energy carriers should be reduced as proposed by the European Commission to incentivise the production of renewable fuels. If an energy tax is based on genuine environmental criteria, this invariably leads to lower consumer prices and increases the affordability of eFuels.
In the EU new passenger cars with an internal combustion engine should be banned in 2035. In 2040, 90% of all trucks shall be electrified. This would signifanctly shrink a potential eFuel market in the road sector, decrease investments in renewable fuels and limit the mobility behavior of many European citizien. The eFuel Alliance fights for fair competition between all climate-neutral mobility solutions. Therefore, eFuels need to be recognized in the CO2 emission standards for new vehicles. Currently only emissions at the exhaust pipe are measured which lead to the misleading fact that an electric vehicle always has zero gram CO2 - even charged with electricity from fossil power plants - and a vehicle with an internal combustion engine always has the fossil tailpipe value - even with 100% eFuels. Three ways to recognize eFuels exist: 1. A new vehicle class for vehicles which are exclusively using eFuels over lifetime. 2. A carbon correction factor which reduce the tailpipe CO2 value in accordance to the average share of renewable fuels in the market. 3. A voluntary accounting system to offset remaining CO2 emissions if manufacturers can prove that additional amounts of eFuels are brought into market. All options are not mutually exclusive and can be used in combination.
With the help of eFuels, globally generated electricity from renewable energies can be used worldwide for the first time. That is because eFuels are easy to store and transport and thus create the possibility to produce and import renewable energies globally in the form of liquid and gaseous energy carriers. This makes a decisive contribution to the global energy transition by building a climate-friendly energy system that helps develop the resources of economically weaker regions.
The EU has set restrictive rules for the production of eFuels. If electrcitiy is taken from the grid only new renewable installations (not older than 36 months) which temporally (hourly from 2030 onwards) and geographically (same bidding zone) correlates with the electricity consumption in the electrolysis are allowed. Industrial CO2 sources are banned in 2041 and need to be in an effective carbon pricing system (similar to EU-ETS) which does not exist outside of Europe. These rules make eFuel production unnecessary expensive and complex in an early market phase. Many investment decisions are postponed or cancelled due to these impractical conditions.
Tasks and goals
of the initiative
The eFuel Alliance has set itself the goal of advancing and intensifying the production of synthetic carbon-neutral fuels. We therefore actively promote the advantages and benefits of eFuels to policymakers and authorities, the (specialist) public, academia and the media, and proactively engage in decision-making processes and debates. The eFuel Alliance is committed to the green energy transition. This requires technology openness in climate change policy, a comprehensive roll-out of a clean hydrogen economy and its derivatives, a change in energy taxation based on carbon footprint, the crediting of eFuels towards the CO2 fleet targets, the promotion of international cooperation to build a global hydrogen supply chain, and the scale-up of industrial production of eFuels.
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