Biofuels can be used in all vehicles from buses to boats, and require little or no engine modification. Their use could lead to a cut in carbon dioxide emissions of 50-60% compared with fossil fuels.

Produced from recycled vegetable oils and fats as well as crops such as oilseeds, sugar beet and cereals, biofuels are playing an increasingly important role in the future of transport. They also have the benefit of being able to be produced domestically, making the UK less dependent on foreign fuel supplies in the future, and can be grown on set aside land, meaning no cut in food supplies is necessary.

Whilst the use of such fuels is not a new idea, their higher cost lead to the widespread use of cheaper fuels such as petrol and diesel. However, rising energy prices and environmental problems are increasingly making transport biofuels a viable and favourable alternative to fossil fuels.

There are two types of transport biofuel; Bio-diesel, an alternative to diesel, and Bio-ethanol, a petrol substitute.

The REA has set up a dedicated website to provide balanced information on sustainable biofuels - www.biofuelsnow.co.uk