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Biofuel mixed with No. 2 heating oil burns cleaner
Article Date: Monday, November 26, 2007
PORTSMOUTH — As temperatures drop and home heating oil prices rise,
consumers are checking out Bioheat, an alternative fuel that produces
fewer carbon emissions.
A
blend of number 2 home heating oil and biofuel, Bioheat is made from
biological materials, including plants such as soybeans, rapeseed,
wheat and sugar cane.
The fuel comes in a variety of blends,
including B5 (5 percent biofuel and 95 percent home heating oil) and
B20 (20 percent biofuel and 80 percent home heating oil).
Similar in concept, biodiesel is a mixture of biological materials and diesel fuel.
Several local heating oil companies have begun carrying Bioheat and selling the product to businesses and homebuyers.
In
Stratham, Simply Green opened its doors seven months ago. Manager
Andrew Kellar said the company averages three to five new customers a
day and he's seeing "tremendous amounts of growth" in his consumer base.
Simply Green, which sells Bioheat mixes of B5 to B20, sold 20,000 gallons of the fuel last month to about 175 customers.
Kellar
says many new consumers are looking for an option, besides home heating
oil, to turn to. Bioheat can be used in an existing home heating system
with no modifications, he adds, and with a price per gallon at $3.12
last Friday it rivals prices of discount oil sellers.
The product burns cleaner, adds Kellar, by breaking down "residual gunk left behind by regular home heating oil."
Bioheat
can be mixed with regular oil but new consumers should wait until they
have a third of a tank of heating oil before filling up with the
product, said Kellar.
Lamprey Brothers General Manager Darrell
Zwicker said the fuel company started actively promoting Bioheat in
August. Now they are bringing new customers on board on a regular basis
and heat their North Hampton headquarters with the fuel source.
"We see an increase on an almost daily basis," said Zwicker. "The interest and momentum is gaining."
Often
times, new customers will ask "how can they play their part in reducing
carbon emissions" when considering Bioheat, said Zwicker.
Lamprey
Brothers carries B5, along with other alternative energy sources like
geothermal and solar products. The company website says the U.S.
Department of Agricultural estimates "that if everyone in the Northeast
with an oil furnace used Bioheat, at least 50 million gallons of
regular heating oil could be conserved annually."
Both Zwicker and Kellar report home consumers as their core biofuel business.
Local
customers cite Bioheat's comparable price to home heating oil, it's
reduced carbon emissions output and a lessened dependency on foreign
oil as factors in their switching to the alternative fuel source.
John
and Mari Morgan of Rochester began using Bioheat one month ago after
they moved to a new home in the city with an oil burner.
Before
moving, they had used natural gas as heating source, said Morgan. They
saw Bioheat as a better alternative fuel source with no costly upgrade
to a gas heater.
"Basically we're reducing our carbon footprint but we're really not doing anymore work," Morgan said.
Sarah Brown of Kittery, a media relations person for Simply Green, started using B20 as a heating fuel last spring.
Brown
said her environmental work over the last couple years prompted her to
look into reducing energy consumption and carbon emission around her
house.
"I'd done all the things I could possibly do to reduce my emissions," she said.
Then she found out about biofuel.
Now Brown says she doesn't have a "crushing guilty feeling" when she turns on her heat.
