Heating Oil Dealers Prepare for Industry’s Green Future at Bioheat Conference
Dr. Tom Butcher of Brookhaven National Laboratories shares his scientific findings on biodiesel in heating oil applications. (image: Nicholas Whitaker for HeatingOil.com)
Dozens of heating oil professionals gathered in the Bronx at the new Yankee Stadium on Tuesday in the name of a hugely important and fast-growing component of the industry: biodiesel. The Bioheat Conference, sponsored by the National Biodiesel Board, biodiesel distributors Ultra Green Energy Services and Sprague Energy, and several state industry groups, offered an intensive day packed with need-to-know info about biodiesel heating oil.
Biodiesel, also known by the brand name Bioheat, offers the heating oil industry a clear and direct path to a greener and more sustainable future. Its chemical makeup is nearly identical to road diesel and no. 2 heating oil, and it can therefore be used in existing heating systems without requiring any equipment modifications. Most companies and individuals in the heating oil industry have accepted the crucial role that biodiesel will play in the future of that industry.
Tuesday’s conference took the next step beyond general understanding and acceptance of biodiesel heating oil to offer a more detailed look at its benefits (for both dealers and consumers), explanations of how it fits in with current legislative trends, and calls for determined and tenacious advocacy to bring the news of biodiesel to the oil-heating public.
“The Best Fuel”
As New York Assemblyman Marc Alessi noted in both his prepared remarks and a brief interview with HeatingOil.com (watch our interview with Marc Alessi), biodiesel really does seem “too good to be true.” It’s a versatile fuel that can be manufactured relatively easily from a variety of sources (feedstocks), including used cooking oil, animal fats, soybeans, grass, and wood chips. Biodiesel is non-toxic and biodegradable, so it won’t harm people or the environment—unlike a crude oil spill, a “biodiesel spill” would be little more than a temporary nuisance. Assemblyman Alessi first discovered these benefits when he looked into respiratory problems in schoolchildren in relation to their exposure to school bus exhaust fumes. “In my research…biodiesel kept coming back as the best fuel,” Alessi told conference attendees. He also noted that New York State has more than enough fallow farmland to grow the soybeans (or other feedstock) that would be needed to meet a spike in demand brought on by a mandate of 20 percent biodiesel in all of the state’s vehicles and oil heating systems.
Dr. Tom Butcher of Brookhaven National Laboratories showed the conference the scientific side of biodiesel’s benefits. He described his experiences in testing biodiesel in heating systems, and reported results that were almost entirely positive. On the subject of fewer emissions, Dr. Butcher noted, “biodiesel is essentially a sulfur-free fuel,” which eliminates the emission of sulfur dioxide, a byproduct of combusting petroleum fuels that causes respiratory problems and acid rain. He also dispelled some negative “rumors” about biodiesel, citing a Brookhaven study sponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority that placed a B20 blend of biodiesel heating oil (20 percent biodiesel/80 percent petroleum fuel) in 100 homes around the state. The results of the study showed excellent system performance across the board, with no adverse effects as a result of low temperatures. He also singled out home heating systems as a “better place” (as opposed to vehicles) for biodiesel due to their stationary nature.
The Legislative Writing on the Wall
One reason that Bioheat and similar fuels are good for the heating oil industry is that state, regional, and national governments have been and are continuing to make laws to reduce our nation’s reliance on petroleum. Ten governors from Northeastern states have declared their intentions to legislate low-carbon fuel standards that could apply to heating oil in the near future. Congress has been considering new laws to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. Several state legislatures are working on new legislation to lower the sulfur content of heating oil and mandate biodiesel blending. Supplying and marketing biodiesel heating oil will bring the industry into compliance with all of those developing policies, possibly before they are enacted. “We need to clean up our fuel,” National Oilheat Research Alliance President John Huber frankly stated from the podium at Yankee Stadium. Based on his comments and those of other presenters, increased utilization of biodiesel is the best way to do it.
In biodiesel, the heating oil industry has a product that can be produced domestically and creates few heat-trapping or otherwise harmful emissions. As Huber put it, “heating oil can become a zero-emissions fuel.” By aggressively adopting internal standards, the heating oil industry can place itself ahead of the curve on new laws and requirements calling for fewer emissions and smaller carbon footprints.
Getting the Word Out
The economic, operational, and environmental benefits of biodiesel heating oil have been tested and proven many times over. Pending legislation and other policies will soon make it a legally sanctioned (if not required) fuel. So what’s stopping every heating oil user from demanding biodiesel? The main hurdle seems to be lack of knowledge. Many heating oil consumers don’t even know biodiesel heating fuel is an option, and if they don’t know about it, they can’t ask for it. Some heating oil users (and dealers, for that matter) have a vague understanding of biodiesel, but are skeptical of its easy, drop-in application to oil heating equipment. One attendee asked Assemblyman Alessi what the main impediment to wider consumer acceptance of biodiesel is, and his response was simple and immediate: “fear of the unknown,” he said. Therein lies one challenge for the heating oil industry—informing its customers about the benefits of biodiesel heating oil so that they understand them when the product becomes available.
Tuesday’s Bioheat conference offered heating oil dealers and other industry representatives with valuable tools for tackling that challenge. As the industry continues to go green, the determination of insiders like those who attended the conference has the power to make biodiesel and Bioheat household terms.
