Pursuant to Public Law 113-79 (the Agricultural Act of 2014), Congress required NORA to prepare a report on the utilization rate and analysis of the use of biofuels in Oilheating equipment.

The report titled, “Developing a Renewable Biofuel Option for the Home Heating Sector“ was released on May 13, 2015 and is most comprehensive report of its kind.

Get the complete report here.

Some of the key components of the report:

• One of the biggest transitions in heating oil has been the move to ultra-low sulfur heating oil (ULSHO). This fuel lowers maintenance, improves efficiency and reduces pollution from heating systems.
• Biodiesel blends at 20% (B-20) with ultra-low sulfur heating oil (ULSHO) are lower in Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) than natural gas when evaluated over 100 years, while blends of 2% (B-2) or more are lower in GHG than natural gas when evaluated over twenty years.
• Biodiesel blended at 5 percent would require approximately 300 million gallons of biodiesel produced per year. Assuming the biodiesel industry average of 50 million gallons per year per plant. Bioheat® would be responsible for 6 plants built and continuously operated. Thus, nearly 270 full time jobs can be directly attributed to Bioheat®.
• Studies on the operation of Bioheat® on the basic burner operation with biodiesel blends at B-20 (at least) is the same as with unblended heating oil.
• NORA (the Alliance) and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) have communicated the value of using biodiesel and selling Bioheat®. The Alliance features information about Bioheat® on its consumer website, OilheatAmerica.com. The NBB has a webpage, Bioheatonline.com that describes the advantages of Bioheat®. Further, the Alliance and its affiliated state associations have worked to provide education on this product to consumers and retail oil companies through the use of mass media and informational brochures.
• State and local governments have utilized a number of strategies to encourage the use of biofuels in their communities. It is often necessary to encourage its use with incentives or mandates to develop the infrastructure and overall market acceptance for a new fuel.

[ezcol_1half]The National Oilheat Research issued its first Project Opportunity Notice (PON) since its reauthorization on October 31, 2014 with a deadline for submissions of December 12, 2014. NORA’s President, John Huber, categorized the PON a success as the number and quality of proposals met or exceeded expectations.

The PON (No. 2014-001) sought proposals to support the development, demonstration and commercialization of Oilheat technologies and made available two million dollars in funding.

At the deadline close, twelve proposals had been received totaling more than 4.5 million dollars for research on a cost shared basis with NORA. Under the proposals, NORA would contribute significant  funding for the projects.

“It is exciting that this many companies, including manufacturers, consultants and laboratories, are so interested in adding to the already high-quality products and services offered to the American consumer by the Oilheating industry,” said Huber. [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] “The quality of the concerns making the proposals is quite high and the topics are right on target with NORA’s long term plans.”

Although none of the proposals have gone through the entire process and been formally accepted, some of the topics proposed include: improving condensing appliances, low firing and modulating burners, delivery efficiency improvements and biodiesel/Bioheat® improvements.

All of the proposals are now under review by NORA’s technical experts. The next step is for NORA’s technical experts to make recommendations to the NORA technical committee for final approval.

NORA will continue to release PONs in the months and years ahead. They will be distributed to the industry through press releases and  posted here on the NORAweb.org site.[/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half]Many states in the Northeast have instituted requirements to move heating oil to a low-sulfur blend and some have included biodiesel blends in their mandates.

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont all have phase-in periods that require a dramatic reduction in the amount of sulfur present in heating oil.

Other than Maryland and Pennsylvania, both of which have mandated a reduction to 500 PPM sulfur, each of the above states will require no more than 15 PPM. Each state has set its own time table for the transition, the latest date is July 2018.

The cities of New York and Philadelphia have set their own standards with more aggressive transitions.

The District of Columbia, not yet having low-sulfur requirement, has proposed 15 PPM sulfur by July 1, 2018.

Reducing the amount of sulfur in heating oil results in a reduction of emissions and[/ezcol_1half][ezcol_1half_end]fewer deposits on heat exchangers, providing a cleaner burn and better heating system efficiency.

Additionally, some of the states and New York City have either instituted a biodiesel blend requirement or have proposals in place. The inclusion of biodeisel (a renewable fuel made from agricultural products) in blends up to 5% makes what it known as Bioheat®. Blending amounts above 5% is also becoming widespread and the oilheating industry is currently working to have the higher blends included in ASTM’s specification for heatiing oil or in a new specification for Bioheat®.

The introduction of renewable biodiesel in heating oil offers American consumers a fuel with a renewable component that is actually lowers the carbon impact of heating with oil while bolstering U.S. farming and production.

Click here to view detailed chart of the states positions.

Thank you to Jim Collura, New England Fuel Institute, for assembling this information.[/ezcol_1half_end]