Facts about Oilheat

Oil heat is in the vanguard of a worldwide revolution in conservation and increased efficiency. Thanks to industry advancements, consumers today use far less oil than they did 30 years ago, and with emerging technologies, per household consumption of heating oil will drop even further.

1. •Home heating oil has reduced its carbon footprint by 40 percent over the last 30 years, according to a December 2005 report,“Low Sulfur Heating Oil: An Overview of Benefits, Costs and Implementation Issues,”from the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM).
   

1. •No other energy source has succeeded in reducing consumption,becoming more efficient, or marketing a renewable fuel as have heating oil retailers.
   

1. •Thirty years ago,according to the NESCAUM report,the average oil heat home used 1,300 gallons of heating oil per year. Today,that number has been reduced by nearly 40 percent, to less than 800 gallons per year,thanks to new technology such as indirect water heating, low mass boilers,sophisticated electronic controls,and high-efficiency equipment.
   

1. •BioHeat,a blend of domestically grown and produced,renewable materials,including soybean and other oils,has the highest BTU content of any alternative fuel and is extraordinarily clean-burning.
   

1. •What’s more,tests conducted by the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) found that a BioHeat blend of 80% low-sulfur heating oil and 20% biodiesel (B20) reduced sulfur oxide emissions by as much as 80% or more. Nitrogen oxide emissions were lowered by about 20%. In addition,carbon dioxide emissions can be lowered by 20%.
   

1. •If everyone using heating oil used a B5 blend (5% biodiesel/95% heating oil),400 million gallons of traditional heating oil could be conserved. This would be another big step toward conserving oil,and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.