Heating Oil Industry on Track to Achieve Net-Zero Emissions by 2050

April 30, 2024

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(Clean Fuels Alliance America) The Northeast heating oil industry is on track to achieve the ambitious goals set forth in the Providence Resolution, a landmark commitment made in 2019 to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The resolution, which was unanimously approved by over 300 industry leaders, calls for a 15% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2023, a 40% reduction by 2030, and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

According to a new analysis by Dr. Tom Butcher of the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA), the industry has surpassed its goal of reducing GHGs 15% by 2023, achieving a nearly 26% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through a combination of energy efficiency improvements and increased use of renewable fuels such as Bioheat® Fuel, a blend of sustainable biodiesel with conventional home heating oil.

“The heating oil industry has made significant strides in reducing its carbon footprint over the past five years,” said Sean Cota, President & CEO of the industry’s Washington-based trade association, the National Energy & Fuels Institute (NEFI).

“These mostly small, multi-generational family businesses are playing an outsized role in carbon reduction in the Northeast,” Cota added. “They will continue to prove pivotal in the years to come as governments at all levels seek to achieve ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals in a manner that is equitable and achievable, and that preserves energy security and reliability.”

At its sixth annual industry summit, held in Weehawken, New Jersey this week, the industry celebrated numerous successes and innovations, including:

UL standards that recognize higher biofuel blends in oil-fired heating equipment
Manufacturers introducing burners and heating systems to the market that are certified for blends of up to 100% biodiesel (B100)
New federal tax credits for homeowners who upgrade to more efficient oil-fired furnaces and boilers that are designed for use with higher blends of renewable fuels
Securing federal grants for downstream biofuel infrastructure investments for heating oil

Working closely with state governments, heating oil state associations advocated for biofuel blending requirements in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island that will eventually require blends as high as 50-percent. Additionally, heating oil blended with biofuels are expected to generate credits under emerging “clean heat standards” now being developed in Massachusetts and Vermont, and in the early stages of development in several other Northeast states.

Renewable fuels have proven to be an immediate, cost-effective, and equitable means of reducing emissions in the building sector, particularly for the nearly five million Northeast homes and businesses that rely on heating oil dealers for warmth and comfort each winter.

“There is still work ahead, and we are ready for the challenge,” said NEFI Board Chair Ray Hart, a full-service heating oil dealer based out of Long Island, New York.

“This is an industry of hard-working American men and women that care deeply for their neighbors, their local communities, and the environment,” he said. “Together, we can achieve great heights.”

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENERGY & FUELS INSTITUTE (NEFI)
Since 1942, NEFI has been a leading voice for wholesale and retail liquid heating fuel distributors and related services companies in Washington, DC and throughout the country. Its members are mostly small, multigenerational family businesses that deliver warmth and comfort to millions of American homes. NEFI hosts annual summits, such as today’s event in Weehawken, NJ, that provide an opportunity for stakeholders to gather and discuss pathways to voluntarily achieve carbon reduction goals consistent with industry commitments, including widespread deployment of renewable liquid heating fuels and high efficiency technologies. More at www.nefi.com. READ MORE

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Excerpt from Energy News Network: Environmental and community advocates in Massachusetts argue that making too much room for biofuels in a pending state plan to decarbonize heating systems would slow the transition from fossil fuels and cause more pollution than a plan that prioritizes electric heat pumps.

As the state works on the creation of a Clean Heat Standard, a report released last month by Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility raises questions about the effects using biodiesel in fuel-oil heating systems could have on air quality and public health, saying there is not enough information available about the pollutants released in the process.

Advocates say there is no such uncertainty about electric heat pumps, which create no direct emissions and should therefore be heavily favored in the new state policy.

“We absolutely think the thumb should be on the scale of electrification,” said Larry Chretien, executive director of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance. “If they give credit to biofuels, it ought to be conditional.”

Oil heating is much more prevalent in the Northeast than in the rest of the country. In Massachusetts, 22% of households are heated with oil, as compared to less than 5% nationwide. Moving homes and businesses off oil heat, therefore, is an important element of the state’s plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, which sets a target of reducing emissions from heating by 93% from 1990 levels in that timeframe.

The process of developing a Clean Heat Standard began when then-Gov. Charlie Baker convened the Commission on Clean Heat in 2021. In 2022, the board recommended the creation of the standard, which was also included in the state’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2050, released later that year. A stakeholder process began in 2023, and in the fall of that year the state released a draft framework for the standard that included the expectation of issuing credits for some biofuel use.

Open questions about public health

The program is expected to require gas utilities and importers of heating oil and propane to provide an increasing proportion of clean heating services like home heat pumps, networked geothermal, and other options, or buy credits from other parties that have implemented these solutions.

Whether the other options that qualify as clean heat will include biofuels — fuels derived from renewable, organic sources — has been a matter of contention since the idea for the system was first raised.

Climate advocates have tended to oppose the inclusion of much, if any, biofuel in the standard. Though biodiesel creates lower lifetime greenhouse gas emissions than its conventional counterpart, the recent Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility report contends that there are many unanswered questions about how burning biodiesel impacts public health.

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Climate advocates also argue that embracing biofuels in a Clean Heat Standard would unnecessarily prolong the transition to electric heat pumps while encouraging the continued burning of fossil heating oil. Typically, a heating oil customer using biodiesel receives a blend that is no more than 20% biofuel. Providing credit for that fraction of biofuel would therefore improve the economics of the entire heating oil system, contrary to the overall emissions reduction goals of the policy, Chretien said.

“We’re trying to create a system that is rewarding steps towards greenhouse gas reduction,” he said.

Making the case for biofuel

Advocates of biofuels, however, say they are confident that existing science makes a solid case for the health and environmental benefits of biodiesel.

“There’s a decades-long body of work showing the overall benefits to public health of biofuels, specifically biodiesel,” said Floyd Vergara, a consultant for Clean Fuels Alliance America, a national trade association representing the biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel industries.

Vergara, who was involved in the Trinity Consulting study, called out in the physicians’ report, also defended the methodologies and sourcing of that paper.

Further, he said, though biodiesel is typically limited to 20% in current blends, it is quite possible to run a heating system entirely on biofuel, with just a few tweaks to the equipment. These conversions could yield immediate reductions in emissions, he said, rather than waiting for the slower process of replacing thousands of heating oil systems with electric heat pumps.

The difference could be particularly acute in low-income or other traditionally disadvantaged neighborhoods, where many residents can not afford to make the switch to heat pumps, he said.

“You’re getting those benefits immediately, and you’re getting them while the states are pursuing zero-emissions technologies,” he said.

State environmental regulators expect to release a full draft of the clean heat standard for public comment some time this winter. READ MORE