The Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference

Professor Martin Tangney is Director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University. He is leading a session on biofuel and sustainable transport at the conference.

Q: What are your hopes for the conference?

A: I think it’s a big opportunity to sit down across the energy sector and have a good look at everything. Scotland has, quite commendably, stuck its head way above the parapet and is charging ahead on renewable energy.

Q: What message would you hope to get across?

A: The most important message is that we have a thriving oil industry, but it will disappear. That is completely inevitable - oil is running out and it’s not coming back. We also have to get out of that mindset of ‘the next oil’ – there is no single answer. We need to develop a collection of renewables activity, including wind, wave, tidal, biofuel and much more.

Q: What messages do you hope to get across on biofuel?

A: It’s more about listening – what are people’s issues, concerns and needs? What are their misconceptions? This is an area that perhaps needs to listen more and preach less. There are lots of different types of biofuel and the term can create misinformation. There is immense potential, but not all biofuels are created equally and we need to press for genuine sustainability.

Q: How important is innovation?

A: It is hugely significant. The number of famous inventors from Scotland for the size of its population is huge. Exporting technical know-how in renewables could be just as important as creating an industry here.

Q: What is the potential of the sector?

A: I think it is only limited by our commitment. We could produce biofuel on a large-scale, on a small-scale or we could develop technologies and become technology transfer experts. We can also be pioneering in ensuring we have the will to do things sustainably which can only be good for this country. There is a lot happening and I do not think science is the bottleneck to bringing sustainable biofuels to market.

Q: Can the government do more?

A: The Scottish Government has been very supportive and Jim Mather has really picked up the ball in this area. But the UK Government has pushed back European targets on biofuel and there is as yet no real hardline commitment and no incentives for the biofuel industry to develop in the UK.

Q: Have there been examples of good practice in Scotland?

A: Yes. Argent Energy figured out how to use animal fat from abattoirs to make biofuel, and there was the Biobus experiment in Kilmarnock. People were encouraged to bring their own waste oil and got cheaper tickets in return. The waste oil was turned into biofuel by Argent and used for the buses. There was a 10 per cent increase in bus use which took cars off the road. Then Brian Souter [who is on the biofuel and sustainable transport panel at the event] bought Argent Energy. He recognises the potential and clearly is going to expand in this area.

Q: What can we learn from abroad?

A: Barack Obama put an immediate £200m into biofuel and all the big UK companies are investing in the US. In Brazil, half of the fuel for the whole country is bioethanol made from sugar cane. Sugar cane is used for a mixture of food, drink and fuel – about one-third goes into the fuel market. The by-products are burned in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) stations, which power the sugar plantations. They also produce excess power, which goes into the grid – so about 7 per cent of the power used in Brazil is the excess power generated in these hyper-efficient CHP stations.