As you may already know, world leaders, are gathered right now in Paris for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The goal is to come up with a global game plan to reduce pollution and green house gasses that are reeking havoc on our planet.
With initiatives in place on the government level, no doubt you will be hearing more about all sorts of alternative fuels including biodiesel. When it comes to heating homes, we call it BioHeat.
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can be used in place of, or in combination with regular diesel to power vehicles and heat homes. Even a smaller percentage of biodiesel combined with regular diesel has a lower carbon output and thus will contribute in reducing greenhouse gasses that are destroying our atmosphere.So, how is it made? Biodiesel can be made from several different ingredients, otherwise know as, feedstock. Soybean oil is the most common feedstock for Biodiesel. Here, in the Pacific Northwest, however, Biodiesel is more commonly made using recycled restaurant cooking grease. That is the best part of the BioHeat story.
We eat plenty of french fries, onion rings, and fish and chips here in the greater Seattle area. The good news is that all that used cooking grease that would otherwise be in the landfills, is actually being re-purposed for a greater good. SeQuential Biodiesel is our provider. They partner with thousands of restaurants in the area to collect, filter, and distribute Biodiesel for use in vehicles and homes.The Biodiesel is then blended with our standard low sulfur petroleum diesel so that it can be used to heat homes. Genesee offers three blends of BioHeat. The number of the blend indicates the percentage of biodiesel in the blend. So, our B25 is 25% biodiesel and 75% standard diesel. B50 is 50% biodiesel and 50% standard diesel, and so on. The higher the number, the lower the carbon output. But ALL of these BioHeat blends are lower in carbon output than standard heating oil alone AND natural gas.So, why isn't everyone using BioHeat? Two reasons: 1. It's newer to the market and 2. It's more expensive. BUT, only 10 cents more right now, and hands down, it's a much better product. After all, "you get what you pay for", right? And, the good news is, that the U.S. Department of Energy is working with the biodiesel industry to reduced the cost of biodiesel. It is also likely that soon the U.S. Environmental Agency will require refineries to make a cleaner fuel, which means the difference in price between standard diesel and Biodiesel will decrease.If you heat with oil, consider switching to BioHeat. There is not extra cost for switching. All it takes is a phone call or an email to let us know you want to switch. You'll need to specify which blend you prefer as well. Then, for your next fill, we'll send out our BioHeat truck instead of our standard oil truck. It's that simple! And, the bonus is you'll get to see our awesome new BioHeat truck wrap!
