Biodiesel By Region - Germany

Germany

According to the Union zur Förderung von Öl- und Proteinpflanzen UFOP (Union to promote oil- and protein plants), in 2006 the sale of biodiesel through German gas stations rose to 2,000,000 m³, although it is only available at privately owned filling stations and generally not available at outlets operated by major petroleum companies, such as Shell and Esso/Exxon (the petroleum companies see biodiesel as competition to their core petroleum business). In 2004, 45% of all biodiesel sales went directly to large end users, such as trucking companies.

In Germany biodiesel is, for the most part, produced from rapeseed. Sales in Germany stood at two billion litres (about 600 million US gallons (2,300,000 m3)) in 2006. This amount was sufficient to meet the average yearly consumption of well over 2,000,000 automobiles. Diesel engines have become increasingly popular in Germany and almost half of all newly manufactured cars are diesel powered. This is in part due to the greater efficiency of diesel engines, the desire by consumers to use environmentally friendlier technologies and lower taxes on diesel fuel that make it cheaper than gasoline.

Verbio is a biodiesel and bioethanol producer in Germany. They currently produce 400,000 tons of biodiesel from rape seed oil, soybean oil and fatty acids, selling the product to markets in the E.U.

With 1,900 sales points, equal to one in every ten public gas stations, biodiesel is the first alternative fuel to be available nationwide. The industry is expecting a surge in demand since the authorisation at the beginning of 2004, through European Union legislation, of a maximum 5% biodiesel addition to conventional diesel fuel. In Germany biodiesel is sold at a lower price than diesel from petroleum.