Abstract
The biofuels sustainability in transport depends on the energetic products demand and the limited resources. According to European legislation, the energy consumption in transport from renewable energy in the European Union should increase by 10% till 2020. Considering the environmental requests related to greenhouse gases reduction and a lower dependency on oil fuels stimulated more the biofuels production, this research empirically assessed the impact of energy consumption in transport based on biodiesel and bioethanol on sustainable development in terms of economic growth and greenhouse emissions. Using dynamic panel and panel vector-auto-regression models for European Union countries during 2010–2015, we proved that only the energy consumption in transport based on biodiesel had a positive impact on economic growth. The greenhouse emissions did not have any impact on economic growth while the energy consumption in transport based on bioethanol negatively affected the economic growth. The Granger causality tests on panel data indicated a bilateral relationship between economic growth and energy consumption in transport based on biodiesel and between economic growth and energy consumption in transport based on bioethanol. Given these empirical results, the energy policies should focus on the higher utilisation of biodiesel in transport in the EU.
Highlights
The fossil fuels are still the main resources of the energy market
The main objectives of this paper focus on the type of correlation and causality between economic growth and biodiesel and bioethanol energy consumption in transport
Some support measures were taken in countries with high potential in biofuels production and the effects were positive: a lower dependence on fossil fuels, higher incomes from agriculture exploitations, lower environment losses compared to fossil fuels
Summary
The fossil fuels are still the main resources of the energy market. The conventional fuels (natural gas, coal, oil) will continue to be used in the near future. The demand for natural gas and petroleum will increase because of the high economic growth of developing countries like Russia, China, Brasil and India. The resources of petroleum are available for 30 more years in the conditions of actual cotes of exploitation, while the natural gas and coal arrive for 125 years, respectively 220 years, according to US Energy Information Administration. Given this resources rarity, confirmed by the Economics law, the efforts at global level should intensify in order to develop more the renewable resources. The highest investment in renewable resources was made in China, India, Brasil and South Africa
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