The Strategy

Education and Advocacy

There are roughly five million liquid heating fuel customers across the Northeast alone. Our mission is to provide these homeowners, and consumers in general, with factual, evidence-based information regarding the concerning implications of policy-driven electrification. Further, we intend to organize, unify and empower the entire liquid heating fuel supply chain – from farmers and biodiesel producers to fuel distributors and consumers – with tools and resources that will enable them to quickly and easily let their elected officials know that there’s a more responsible, equitable path to net-zero home heating that will benefit the homeowners, small businesses, and communities they represent.

“Developing a totally renewable heating oil is attainable and following more research and development in the coming years, we will be within reach of a fully renewable fuel that’s readily available to homeowners and businesses who have relied on heating oil for decades.”

John Huber

President, National Oilheat Research Alliance

“Biodiesel and advanced biofuels must not be ignored by policy makers when developing their carbon and methane reduction plans for the future. Renewable biofuels may provide the most cost effective method to reduce carbon and can make other GHG reduction strategies more easy to obtain.”

Richard Sweetser

President, EXERGY Partners Corp.

Legislative Support

Transitioning the entire northeastern liquid heating fuel market to a B20 blend would displace more than 913 million gallons per year of conventional heating oil and 7.4 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. That’s the equivalent of removing nearly 1.6 million cars off the road each year – more than all the registered vehicles in the cities of New York and Boston combined.

In support of the Providence Resolution’s aim of moving the liquid heating fuel industry to B20 by 2023, Project Carbon Freedom is advocating for B20 blending requirements across all Northeastern states, as well as regional market-based incentive programs for higher Bioheat® blends. These measures will work to level the playing field for the wholesale distribution market, ensure supply from around the country, and encourage increased production and infrastructural investment in the Northeast. On the federal level, we are seeking increased support under the Renewable Fuel Standard and Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program.

To let your state and federal elected official know that you support these actions, visit the PCF Action Center.

Legislative Support

Transitioning the entire northeastern liquid heating fuel market to a B20 blend would displace more than 913 million gallons per year of conventional heating oil and 7.4 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. That’s the equivalent of removing nearly 1.6 million cars off the road each year – more than all the registered vehicles in the cities of New York and Boston combined.

In support of the Providence Resolution’s aim of moving the liquid heating fuel industry to B20 by 2023, Project Carbon Freedom is advocating for B20 blending requirements across all Northeastern states, as well as regional market-based incentive programs for higher Bioheat® blends. These measures will work to level the playing field for the wholesale distribution market, ensure supply from around the country, and encourage increased production and infrastructural investment in the Northeast. On the federal level, we are seeking increased support under the Renewable Fuel Standard and Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program.

To let your state and federal elected official know that you support these actions, visit the PCF Action Center.

“Biodiesel and advanced biofuels must not be ignored by policy makers when developing their carbon and methane reduction plans for the future. Renewable biofuels may provide the most cost effective method to reduce carbon and can make other GHG reduction strategies more easy to obtain.”

Richard Sweetser

President, EXERGY Partners Corp.

Infrastructural Investment

Most if not all of the biodiesel supply and infrastructure is already in place to support a transition to B20 Bioheat® across the entire Northeastern market. Today, regional biodiesel producers can account for roughly 20 percent of the 800 million annual gallons needed to reach a B20 blend, while remaining supply falls within the three billion gallon capacity of North American producers.

“In 2019, North American production capacity was about 3 billion gallons, and only 1.7 billion gallons were actually produced,” said Kearney manager Yuri Kopylovski. “This means that with existing plant infrastructure, we have about a 73-percent increase in production that could be made without any additional capital investment or reliance on imports from outside North America.”

In other words, the liquid heating fuel industry is ahead of the game when it comes to building out the necessary infrastructure to support an immediate transition to higher Bioheat® blends. Short term investments to increase transportation capacity from the Midwest to the Northeast will need to be supplemented by longer term investments aimed at increasing local production, upgrading bulk terminal assets, and modifying residential heating equipment, if necessary, with the introduction of higher blends.

“The supply and infrastructure story overall is an optimistic one.”

Yuri Kopylovski

Manager, Kearney

“Local policymakers can increase the likelihood of commercializing emerging technologies by orienting the homegrown efforts and business innovations relevant to decarbonization. Specifically… renewable fuels are innovation areas that have tremendous regional potential.”

Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. & The Energy Futures Initiative, Inc.

Continued Innovation

At its 2019 annual membership meeting, the National Energy & Fuels Institute (NEFI) resolved to henceforth refer to the heating oil industry as the “renewable liquid heating fuels industry.”

This industry’s story has only just begun.

While biodiesel has thus far represented the “renewable” component of renewable liquid heating fuel, advancements in other promising biofuels, such as renewable diesel and ethyl levulinate (which achieves net-negative carbon emissions) are expected to play important roles in the years and decades ahead.

“To get to the ultimate 2050 goal of net-zero,” according to Kopylovski, “the industry will need to take advantage of renewable liquid fuels that are already commercially available as well as develop others that are still in pilot stages of production.”

While equipment manufacturers will need to ensure that all heating system components are compatible with these fuels, it’s worth noting that one of the industry’s largest OEM’s, R.W. Beckett Corp., has already rolled out their B100 burner and announced that their popular AFG burner will be rated for R95+ fuel, which is a 95-percent renewable liquid heating fuel blend. Renewable diesel shares the same primary feedstocks as biodiesel, but is refined in a way that makes it chemically identical to petroleum diesel and heating oil. A relatively new fuel, it is now being introduced to the Northeast market by the region’s two largest wholesalers.

Continued Innovation

At its 2019 annual membership meeting, the National Energy & Fuels Institute (NEFI) resolved to henceforth refer to the heating oil industry as the “renewable liquid heating fuels industry.”

This industry’s story has only just begun.

While biodiesel has thus far represented the “renewable” component of renewable liquid heating fuel, advancements in other promising biofuels, such as renewable diesel and ethyl levulinate (which achieves net-negative carbon emissions) are expected to play important roles in the years and decades ahead.

“To get to the ultimate 2050 goal of net-zero,” according to Kopylovski, “the industry will need to take advantage of renewable liquid fuels that are already commercially available as well as develop others that are still in pilot stages of production.”

While equipment manufacturers will need to ensure that all heating system components are compatible with these fuels, it’s worth noting that one of the industry’s largest OEM’s, R.W. Beckett Corp., has already announced that their popular AFG burner will be rated for R95+ fuel, which is a 95-percent renewable liquid heating fuel blend. Renewable diesel shares the same primary feedstocks as biodiesel, but is refined in a way that makes it chemically identical to petroleum diesel and heating oil. A relatively new fuel, it is not yet commercially available in the Northeast.

“Local policymakers can increase the likelihood of commercializing emerging technologies by orienting the homegrown efforts and business innovations relevant to decarbonization. Specifically… renewable fuels are innovation areas that have tremendous regional potential.”

Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. & The Energy Futures Initiative, Inc.

“Renewable liquid heating fuel is an equitable alternative energy source. For those 4.9 million homeowners across the Northeast with heating oil systems in use today, renewable liquid heating fuel is a cheaper green heating fuel compared to other options.”

A.T. Kearney

Situation

Imprudent clean energy strategies are threatening clean energy progress.

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Solution

There’s a responsible path to renewable heat.

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Action

Email your officials with one click.

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“Renewable liquid heating fuel is an equitable alternative energy source. For those 4.9 million homeowners across the Northeast with heating oil systems in use today, renewable liquid heating fuel is a cheaper green heating fuel compared to other options.”

A.T. Kearney