New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill on Monday that required lower sulfur content and at least 2 percent biodiesel content for heating oils used in the City. (image: gothamist.com)

According to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Twitter feed, he on Monday signed city intro. 194-A into law, which mandates lower sulfur content in no. 4 and no. 6 heating oils. No. 4 and no. 6 heating oils, often referred to as “residual fuels,” are made up of the low-quality end products of the oil refining process and are usually used to power ships and heavy machinery. In New York City, many condominiums, apartment complexes, and other large commercial buildings use the fuels for heating because they are relatively cheap. Unfortunately, what make the fuels cheap are the many impurities they contain, which cause inefficient combustion that results in unhealthy and unsightly black emissions.

The enactment of intro. 194-A requires that heating oils burned in New York City must contain no more than 1,500 parts per million of sulfur after October 1, 2012. It also requires all heating oil used in the city after October 1, 2012 to contain at least 2 percent biodiesel.

Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn jointly announced support for the measure in late July, so the signing of the law was just a formality. Now fully official, the new law means cleaner air for all new Yorkers and more energy-efficient heating systems in large buildings.

Some voices in the refining industry claim that the new mandates will bring higher heating oil prices for residential and commercial customers alike, but considering that the requirements will be phased in over a 26-month period and supplies of lower-sulfur heating oil are ample, DEP commissioner Cas Holloway called that claim “overstated.”

A technician performs a blower door test, part of a home energy audit. A free home energy audit is the first step for homeowners who apply for the Energy Smart Quincy program. (image: austinqualitygreen.com)

Energy Smart Quincy is a new program designed to help the town of Quincy, MA reduce energy consumption and save money, the Boston Globe reported on Thursday. The program started in July, and provides homeowners and businesses with a free energy audit, during which a technician identifies ways to reduce energy use and informs consumers about available rebates and incentives for making energy-efficiency improvements.

The program is funded by federal stimulus money through an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant worth $881,000. That money will not go directly to homeowners, though; instead, it provides for the free energy audit and assistance in taking advantage of existing rebates and incentives. National Grid offers rebates of up to $2,000 and federal tax credits can take $1,500 off the cost of efficiency improvements. Those incentives can often help homeowners make the initial investment in projects such as adding insulation or sealing air leaks, which provide energy savings for years to come.

Home energy audits for the program are carried out by Next Step Living, whose chief executive, Geoff Chapin, heartily endorsed the program to the Globe:

“It’s an incredible deal. Not many people know about it,’’ Chapin said. “We help people access the rebates, fill out the forms. We make it easy.’’

Caryn Smith, a Quincy homeowner, spoke with the Globe about her efforts to reduce her energy costs. A home energy audit revealed that her 130-year-old home needed insulation in its roof and eaves. Through rebates and tax credits, what would have been a $5,500 job became a $2,000 job. That’s not exactly chump change, but Smith anticipates that the new insulation will save her $700 a year in heating costs, helping her pay off the investment in just under three years. After that, the improvement will continue to afford Smith the rewards of a more efficient home year after year.

Even a much smaller investment, combined with incentives, can substantially reduce energy bills. Larry Chretien, the executive director of Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, says that a $500 out-of-pocket expense can pay for $2,700 in insulation and air sealing, and usually saves consumers enough money that the initial investment pays for itself in just one year.

Quincy residents can apply today at the Energy Smart Quincy website. For those of you who live elsewhere, the example of Quincy might serve as inspiration. Find out what rebates or tax credits are available to you, and get a home energy audit to find out what improvements you can make to lower your heating costs. An upfront expense today could save you money for years to come.

An early report states that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (right) and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (left) will both announce their support for a mandate to reduce the sulfur content in heating oil used in large city buildings. (image: nycrubberroomreporter.blogspot.com)

City leaders announced their support today for a measure requiring lower sulfur content in oil used to heat apartments and other commercial buildings in New York City, according to a blog by Rich Kassel of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The announcement comes just days after Governor Paterson signed into law a mandate to lower the sulfur content of no. 2 heating oil, which is used in smaller, residential buildings. No. 4 and no. 6 heating oils (known as “residual fuels” because they are essentially made up of the dregs of the refining process) are major sources of air pollution in New York City. Today’s announcement “will come” from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, according to Kassel. It will refer to New York City Intro. 194, which would lower the maximum sulfur content in no. 4 and no.6 heating oils to 2,000 parts per million (ppm) and also require the heating fuels to contain at least 2 percent biodiesel beginning in October of 2012. Intro. 194 is currently under consideration by the city council.

The best available description of Intro. 194 and its benefits comes from Caswell F. Holloway, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. Holloway’s prepared remarks for his testimony to the city council regarding the measure on May 28 of this year make clear his support for the low-sulfur and biodiesel mandates. Holloway’s statement notes that no. 6 and no. 4 (a mixture of no. 6 and no. 2 heating oils) are a major source of “air pollutants such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and sulfur oxides,” which can cause or exacerbate respiratory problems. The testimony also references the fact that no. 4 and no. 6 oils’ dirty emissions are not just unhealthy, but unsightly:

That boilers using No. 6 and No. 4 oil pollute more than the other fuels is readily observable by the general public. These boilers are commonly the subject of 311 complaints about the emission of smoke from a building chimney that is caused by incomplete combustion.

Holloway’s testimony also addresses the concern that the low-sulfur and biodiesel requirements in Intro. 194 could lead to a shortage of low-sulfur fuel, but calls the concerns “overstated.” Holloway goes on to predict the enactment of the measure would give a boost to local biodiesel producers who manufacture the green fuel from used cooking oil (one such manufacturer is Tri-State Biodiesel in the Bronx).

New York City building owners who would be most directly affected by the measure have generally opposed it—a note on the Federation of New York Housing Cooperatives and Condominiums’ website claims, “When this new legislation goes into effect, it will be more costly for the consumers.” As is the case with the New York State low-sulfur requirement on no. 2 oil, the effect of the City requiring low-sulfur heating fuel on retail prices is unknown. Commissioner Holloway’s testimony included an estimate that tuning up or otherwise retrofitting oil boilers to run on low-sulfur heating oil will cost some building owners $10,000 or less.

However it affects heating oil prices, Intro. 194 will undoubtedly bring cleaner air to New York City, and that’s good news for all NYC residents, regardless of how they heat their homes.

Clickfil’s website and email are down—has Clickfil delivered its last gallon of heating oil? (image: marketwire.com)

Clickfil.com gained notoriety in the heating oil industry when it launched last summer, promising to use technology like GPS and an online ordering system to deliver discounted heating oil to customers in Massachusetts, and offering cheap ice cream to gain the attention of heating oil users in times of warmer weather. Now, nearly a year later, Clickfil appears to have gone belly up. Their website is down, the domain name is now available from GoDaddy.com, and emails sent to Clickfil email addresses have immediately bounced back. For an online company, no website and no email is like not having a pulse.

It’s unclear what exactly has happened to Clickfil, but its demise would be surprising. As a subsidiary of Fort Reliance—the parent company of Irving Oil, one of Canada’s largest heating oil companies and the owner of Canada’s largest refinery—Clickfil had the backing of a major player in the heating oil industry. Irving Oil already operated in several US states, but Clickfil represented an attempt to make inroads into the Massachusetts market, and to establish a new way of buying heating oil that offered the low per-gallon rates of COD heating oil and some of the amenities—though not the service—of full-service heating oil companies.

However, Irving Oil has been backing out of some of its investments recently. In June HeatingOil.com reported that Irving Oil had canceled its plans to build a biodiesel refinery next to its existing refinery in New Brunswick. That announcement came just days after Irving abandoned its rights to tidal power off the New Brunswick coast. As Irving Oil reassessed its expansion into alternative energy, perhaps it questioned its attempt to reinvent heating oil delivery, as well.

Do you have any news or insight on what’s happened to Clickfil? Let us know by leaving a note in the comments section.

Astrofuel of Marblehead settled the case in which it was accused of filing improper liens on customers’ homes. (image: ljpenterpriseinc.com)

A heating oil dealer in Marblehead, MA reached a settlement with the attorney general’s office after being accused of illegally filing liens on nearly 150 customers’ homes and assorted other deceptive business practices, reports the Salem News. The owners of Astrofuel LLC (which also does business as Anchor Fuel, Apollo Fuel, and Apollo Group), Anita and Peter Davekos, will pay $20,000 in civil penalties and release all improper liens.

The Salem News first broke the story in March 2009, and nearly a year later the attorney general’s office filed its complaint. Astrofuel ran afoul of the attorney general by charging customers without notifying them, not informing customers how to cancel their contracts, and operating without filing certification in a number of towns; however, it was the Davekoses’ unusual practice of filing improper liens that proved especially insidious.

Massachusetts state law allows a so-called mechanic’s lien to be filed against a property if work done to the permanent structure goes unpaid. The Davekoses claimed that liens were filed after they had not been paid for oil burner repairs, which might have entitled them to file a mechanic’s lien. But customers say such repairs never happened, and the liens were filed after customers disputed bills or tried to cancel contracts. In other cases—because Astrofuel was not properly notifying customers of charges—many customers were simply unaware of any unpaid balances and remained unaware that a lien had been filed on their home.

State Representative John Keenan is trying to change the law regarding liens to make it harder for people like the Davekoses to use liens to extort customers. Under current law, homeowners have little recourse to remove the lien other than to pay the alleged debt because dissolving the lien requires the consent of the filer—in this case, the Davekoses. Liens can severely hamper any effort to sell or refinance a home, and some homeowners may have simply found it preferable to pay the Davekoses the hundreds or even thousands of dollars they asked for.

One Salem homeowner, Jacqueline Wilkins, is not satisfied with the attorney general’s actions. She told the Salem News, “I don’t think it’s enough,” and has filed a class-action lawsuit against Astrofuel.

While the liens will be removed, customers would have rather worked with a different heating oil company and escaped the experience entirely. Customers aren’t likely to worry about whether or not a company they work with will illegally file a lien on their home, but it is advisable to do some research before buying oil from a new dealer. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) gave Anchor Fuel a rating of “F,” a sign that Anchor Fuel and its parent company Astrofuel might best be avoided.

Despite its recent misfortune, the city that calls itself the “world’s luckiest fishing village” is moving ahead as planned with its Independence Day celebration. (image: cityofdestin.com)

Tar balls have speckled the beaches of Destin, Florida, ugly reminders of the catastrophic oil spill that threatens the Florida coastline, but the city is determined to move forward with its Second Annual Independence Day celebration, TheDestinLog.com reported.

Destin is a city whose livelihood comes from the water, through fishing and the tourists attracted to its beaches and water activities. Faced with this environmental calamity just off its shores, the city contemplated canceling the festivities, but decided that the Fourth of July event might be even more important in the wake of the oil spill. City of Destin Recreation Manager Lance Johnson told TheDestinLog about the decision:

We really need this as a community to help forget about everything that is going on around us for a few hours.

Despite the city’s resolve, the oil spill may force some modifications to the planned schedule. The pyrotechnics company plans to navigate through water to set up the fireworks display, but an oil slick could block their way and force the fireworks to be relocated; boating through the oil slick would only extend the contamination to other areas. The tar balls that are beginning to blight Destin’s beaches won’t cause any problems, though. According to Johnson, “the tar balls are weathered and not flammable,” so they pose no risk.

Cities and towns across the United States will be commemorating the Fourth of July this weekend, and Destin residents will brave the difficulties and not let the oil spill prevent them from celebrating their nation’s independence.