A Glossary of Heating Oil Terms
AFUE Rating: An acronym for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency, the AFUE rating indicates the percentage of heating oil that is successfully converted into actual heat for a home. The higher the AFUE percentage is, the better the conversion rate from oil to heat. For example, an AFUE of 85 percent means that 85 percent [...]
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Superior Plus Corporation: An American Heating Oil Giant is Born
After investing nearly $160 million in heating oil properties throughout the Northeast this fall, Superior Plus Corp. has become a major player on the U.S. heating oil scene. Although this is the Calgary, Alberta-based company’s first foray into the U.S. energy market it is backed by the unmatched weight of its $2.2 billion general [...]
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Hydraulic Fracturing (Hydrofracking): The Risks and Rewards of the Controversial Drilling Technique
Fracking—if you’re a Battlestar Galactica fan, “fracking” is a coarse term for an intimate activity, as well as being an all-purpose, heavy-duty swear word.
However, if you’re in the oil or gas industry, or just read the news relating to upstate New York and eastern Pennsylvania, fracking—or fracing, as it’s also spelled—means something very different: [...]
Fossil Fuel Subsidies: The Politics and Economics of Climate Change
When President Barack Obama spoke in front of the United Nations global warming summit and promised to “work with my colleagues at the G-20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies so that we can better address our climate challenge,” his proposal was alternately applauded and condemned. “It’s a great idea,” said Frank O’Donnell, the [...]
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Profile of an Oil Producer: Iraq
History of Iraq’s Oil Industry
Discovery of oil in 1908 at Masjid-i Suleiman in Iran led to a subsequent search in Mesopotamia (later named Iraq by British mandate). When the Ottoman Empire (of which Mesopotamia had been a part since 1534) collapsed in the early 20th Century, Western powers jumped at the chance to [...]
Eye on Copenhagen: Can the World Agree on a Climate Treaty to Replace Kyoto?
From Kyoto to Copenhagen
Debate over climate change legislation in the United States rages on, and even the Obama administration has conceded that a climate bill will not be finalized until 2010. However, a more important agreement on climate change could take place before the year’s end: a new carbon emissions treaty—a successor to the [...]
Profile of an Oil Producer: Angola
by Nick Malinowski
Large Potential, Large Problems
A potential economic powerhouse in Africa, Angola has surpassed Nigeria and become the continent’s biggest oil producer. The country benefits from billions of dollars in foreign development investments and relative political stability as the country emerges from the brutal chaos of its 27-year civil war, which ended nearly eight [...]
Heating Oil Industry Movers: ICPA President Gene Guilford
HeatingOil.com is proud to present the first installment of the “Industry Movers” series—an ongoing series of interviews and discussions with important figures in the heating oil and energy industries.
HeatingOil.com editor Josh Garrett spoke with Gene Guilford, president of the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association, about current and future heating oil prices, the effects of speculation on [...]
Profile of an Oil Producer: Brazil
The largest and most populous country in South America, Brazil boasts more than just beautiful beaches and beautiful people, though it does have its fair share of both. Notwithstanding large disparities in income levels and high crime rates, Brazil stands as South America’s leading economic power, supported by its new and challenging role as [...]
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Black Gold on the White Frontier: the Race for Arctic Oil
The Arctic has long drawn our gaze northward. The inhospitable realm of endless ice and frozen temperatures, of months-long night and a complete absence of what mankind usually needs to survive—solid land and plants—has attracted explorers and settlers for hundreds of years.
As the world moved toward the 21st Century, interest in the Arctic waned, [...]
Profile of an Oil Producer: Canada
Go on, take a guess: which country is the largest importer of crude oil to the US? If you guessed Saudi Arabia, you’d be wrong. Russia? Nope.
It’s Canada. That’s right: our friendly neighbor to the north. Most people don’t think about Canada as a major oil powerhouse; probably because, unlike other suppliers of [...]
Profile of an Oil Producer: Libya
Libya is located in northern Africa, on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Bordered by Egypt to the east, Algeria to the west, and Niger, Chad, and Sudan to the south, Libya occupies a strategic position, near the intersection of Southern Europe, Islamic Africa, and the Middle East, and touching on non-Islamic Africa [...]
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Profile of an Oil Producer: Nigeria
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, tucked up in Africa’s western curve, is the continent’s leading oil producer. It is here – in the Niger delta where a web of shallow waterways spills into the Gulf of Guinea – where international oil companies have set up shop, despite being generally ill-received by local tribes [...]
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What is a Puff Back?
Puff back—hardly a term to inspire fear in the hearts of homeowners, unless they’ve been unfortunate enough to live through one. A puff back is a misfire in the furnace that, at its worst, can send soot throughout your home, requiring expensive cleaning and restoration in addition to repairs on your heating system. While [...]
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T. Boone Pickens: From Oilman to New Energy Entrepreneur
by Rachel Deahl
Oilman and environmentalist aren’t labels that often go hand in hand, but T. Boone Pickens, one of the few men on the planet who can arguably lay claim to both, isn’t your average oilman—and he’s certainly not your average environmentalist.
Pickens was born into the oil business but had to work [...]
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Maintaining Your Home Heating Oil System
Like your car or truck, your home heating system requires regular maintenance to function its best. Keeping your furnace (forced air system) or boiler (water or steam systems) in good working order will save you money, reduce pollution, and increase your comfort. Fortunately, home heating systems are more like cars from the 1960s or [...]
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Electric Cars Motor Ahead, But Will Consumers Leave Gasoline-Powered Cars Behind?
The latest British invasion involves neither Redcoats nor mop-haired guitar bands; instead, it’s taking the form of electric cars.
The electric Mini Cooper (or Mini E) is an updated version of the British icon, and has come to select U.S. communities. New York City’s government, plus towns and government agencies across New Jersey’s Bergen, Passaic, [...]
Back to School and Going Green: Environmentally-Friendly Options for the Kids
Children may complain that summer never lasts long enough, but back-to-school time is here. And that usually means shopping for essentials such as notebooks, pens, backpacks, and, of course, the ingredients for those PBJ’s.
All of that purchasing usually involves driving around, spending time and money to find your oldest daughter the perfect purple purse. [...]
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When Green Energy is Blue Energy: Power From the Sea
Before long it will be good to hear that there’s a giant Anaconda nearby: “Anaconda” is the name for one of the many technologies that promise to tap the ocean’s unlimited power.
Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, which means they intercept almost three-quarters of all incoming solar energy. In addition [...]
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The Smart Grid: Essential for America’s Renewable Energy Future
The need for a smart grid has been recognized by policymakers at all levels of government as a crucial step towards building a more efficient energy economy — reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and increasing the employment of low-carbon energy sources. While the United States has benefited from innovations in energy generation—new and more [...]
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