New Biofuel on the Block: An Interview with Donnie Wahlberg for the Clean Fuels Alliance of America

July 26, 2024

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(Renewable Energy Magazine) Donnie Wahlberg wears fame easily nearly 40 years after forming the iconic “boy band” New Kids on the Block in his hometown of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Dressed in a long-sleeved black shirt and wearing a silver neck chain hung with a small silver padlock, Wahlberg smiled easily and seemed completely at peace during a recent Zoom call.

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Lately the highly acclaimed actor and musician has taken on another role, joining forces with Clean Fuels Alliance America in a campaign to raise awareness about Bioheat® fuel, an eco-friendly and sustainable home heating solution derived from plants, including soybeans.

Blended with traditional heating oil, Bioheat Fuel promises to significantly reduce the carbon emissions and at least some of the environmental impacts associated with living in the densely populated Northeast.

As will soon become clear, for Wahlberg the campaign has rekindled ties to his Boston-area roots while at the same time providing him with the satisfaction of knowing that he’s doing his part to protect the future of his two sons and future generations.

REM: I guess the best place for us to begin is with how you became interested in bioheat and alternatives to traditional home heating oil.

Wahlberg: I got interested, really, in the beginning of this relationship with the Clean Fuels Alliance. Before that, I have to admit, it’s not something that I spent a lot of time thinking about.

I mean, of course I’m aware of the discussions that have been going on around climate change. I have an electric vehicle, for instance, a GMC Hummer EV. And I’m aware and have been aware of the ever-evolving conversation about renewable energy.

But it was the alliance that really brought this concept of sustainably heating one’s home with readily available renewable resources to my attention.

REM: This might be a silly question, but given that you’re not one of those celebrities who is always out there talking about this issue, why do you think the association reached out to Donnie Walhberg to essentially be the face of bioheat?

Wahlberg: Honestly, I think the initial reason was because I’m a family-oriented guy from the Northeast. I grew up in a home that relied on home heating oil, and they recognized that the sustainable solution that we’re talking about made sense for people who continued to live the kind of life I did then.

At the same time, I think they recognized that mine was a voice that appealed to the population they wanted to reach.

So everything about [this partnership] made sense to them on paper. It was just a case of now making it make sense to me on paper — and I’m not talking about in terms of a deal or anything like that. I really want to be passionate about what I’m supporting.

REM: So they make the initial approach …

Wahlberg: And I’m immediately like the average person. I mean, I’m already like the average person, but you know … I had no idea that this was possible; that you could heat a home with biofuel … or even drive a tour bus, for the entire length of a tour, on biodiesel. I really had no idea how readily available these resources were.

And the more research I did about the product and its positive attributes and its benefits to the environment, the more I realized that a lot of people don’t know about it, otherwise, they’d already be relying on it.

I mean, we literally walked through the streets of Boston, asking people who lived there whether they knew they had an option to switch from heating oil to bio heating oil and they had no idea it was available to them.

I have siblings who still live in the neighborhood that I grew up in and they still heat their homes with home heating oil, just like we did as kids. And they didn’t know a clear, more sustainable alternative was available.

Think of the magnitude of that. Everyone knows that you can do certain things and make certain choices that are beneficial to the environment, Everyone has heard of electric and hybrid vehicles, people know what solar panels are … but at the same time there are hundreds of thousands of people — maybe millions — who live in this country and use home heating oil and literally have no idea that this is readily available to them.

I mean, all you have to do to have access to it is call your home heating oil provider.

REM: Right.

Wahlberg: Another thing my research into this product did was it reminded me of how family-centric the heating oil business is — and you know, a lot of what I do is family centric.

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Most home heating oil providers are family-owned businesses that have been in business for generations.

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REM: It’s funny, but as you were speaking, I thought, ‘I've been writing about renewable energy for years, and never once have I had someone talk to me about biofuel as something to use for home heating.’ I mean, I’ve had lots of conversations about geothermal technology and home heating and cooling, but never bioheat.

Wahlberg: Well, there you go. And you’ve been part of this. You’ve known about this stuff for a long time.

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By comparison, ‘bioheat’ is a simple phrase. And it literally takes something as simple as a phone call to the same family-owned business that most people with home heating oil and their families have known for generations, to bring it into your life.

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I mean, I have a home in Boston not far from the home I grew up in, and my kids are going to know who the home heating oil provider is in our neighborhood that same way I did as a kid, growing up in my parents’ house.

Like, when I was growing up, everybody in Boston knew the Grimes Oil Company. The name was right there, in big letters on the side of their trucks and their trucks were everywhere. And you feel like you know these companies. There’s a simplicity and familiarity to it.

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I also like the idea of being able to sit at someone’s kitchen table and say, ‘You can make the world a cleaner place simply by making a phone call … and not have to change anything else in your life.’

The simplicity of that idea is really appealing to me. Because no matter where you stand on climate issues, whether you are passionate about climate change or not … it doesn’t matter. Everybody, I think, wants to do their part to make the world a cleaner place.

This is an invitation for you to take a simple step and make your environment, your neighborhood, your community, your home, a cleaner place. And that’s the first step toward making the entire world a cleaner place.

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This, meaning bioheat, is just that good. And what I’ve found is people don’t question the potential benefits for switching, what they question is the ease of switching.

For instance, I spoke to one of my brothers about this, and said, ‘Hey man, you have got to switch over to this product?’ And he was like, ‘Well, what about this?’ ‘What about that?’ ‘And what about this?’ It was like he just kept looking for more questions to ask.

And I said, ‘Listen, I’m going to come over to your house. We’re going to call you home heating oil provider. And we’re going to do this together and see how simple it is.’

In fact, my next goal, when this New Kids tour is over in the fall, is to literally go door to door to people’s houses and say, ‘Let’s call your home heating provider and see how easy it is to make the switch.’

I mean, people that I have spoken to are astonished that they don’t have to rip out the big oil drum in their basement and spend $50,000 to install a new one and turn their homes upside down in the process.

You’re just changing the source of the oil.

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Because of my relationship with bioheat, I now consciously use biodiesel on my tour bus. But here’s the thing: most of the trucks and buses on my tour were already using it because most of the truck stops around the country are already making it readily available even though it's not heavily promoted. READ MORE