Biofuels for the sustainable mobility: current and future role in Italy and in the E.U.

The European Commission has recently (2011) adopted an extensive strategy (Transport 2050) for a competitive transport system able to increase the mobility, to feed the growth and the occupation and, at the same time, to contribute to a significative reduction of Europe dependence on oil import and, finally, to reduce of 60% carbon dioxide emissions, related to transport, within 2050. In order to achieve this result, a transformation of the current European transport system will be necessary. From now till 2050, the ambitious aims will imply complex measures among which the limitation of oil-derived fuels in favour of renewable fuels. This programme opens several development possibilities for biogas, bioethanol and biodiesel. The E.U. has fixed important development levels for these biofuels, the realization of which imposes to pass through new generation technologies, still on trial (mainly as regards the bioethanol production), and still object of economic sustainability analysis. The paper examines the possible development scenarios by highlighting that biofuels, in the framework of a necessary differentiation of energy matrices, could usefully contribute to the European programme of sustainable mobility. Nevertheless the authors, in their analysis, also remark some important difficulties related to their limited production and economic competition level.