E10 petrol bad for the environment? That’s what a new study says

Since 2019, all petrol stations in the Netherlands have sold E10 instead of the old Euro 95. The additional addition of ethanol is said to be good for the environment. However, this is not entirely true, according to a new study.

Transport & Environment commissioned a study on biofuels from the German Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU). This states that a lot of CO2 is emitted during the production of ethanol in E10.

Isn’t E10 harmful to the environment?

Research shows what the ethanol in E10 is made of. As Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke has already reported, ethanol is produced from foods such as sugar cane, beets or corn, but also from plant waste.

According to the research, plants in the country would absorb twice as much CO2 if nature could simply take its course here. If we use the agricultural land currently used to install solar panels, it will generate as much energy as all biofuels combined.

The tricky subject of petrol

Whether E10 is greener than the old Euro 95 is a complex question. Although this study shows that the production of E10 may not be the most efficient, Germany claims to have saved 7.8 million tons of CO2 in 2019 alone by introducing E10.

The normal consumer hardly notices whether E10 or the old Euro 95 comes out of the pump. However, you have to be careful with some cars. For example, some hybrid drivers should not fill up with E10, and classic cars and garden machines are also sensitive to the less pure petrol.