Bioheat® Fuel Makes Official Debut Before Cold Season
Home Heating Oil Users Can Look for the Cleaner Burning Fuel’s Logo

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.– As the home heating season begins, consumers who use heating oil have a new option that is cleaner-burning and domestically produced. The use of Bioheat® heating oil for home heating systems is gaining ground as an oilheat product.

Bioheat® fuel is made from a combination of biodiesel and generic heating oil, making it a superior product for the environment, as well as for the overall operational enhancement of the heating system. Biodiesel, made from vegetable oils or animal fats, must meet the ASTM specification of D 6751 and can be used in pre-existing diesel engines and heating systems. To make Bioheat® home heating oil, fuel dealers blend it with ASTM D 396 heating oil.

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) recently trademarked the term and launched the official logo for this product.

Oilheat distributors blend Bioheat® fuel, mostly in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states, as blends from B2 (two percent biodiesel and 98 percent diesel) to B20. Inclusion of five percent biodiesel in oilheat, or B5, will be the overall objective of both NBB and NORA as the market progresses.

“Bioheat® fuel is the beginning of a new era for Oilheat,” said Paul Nazzaro, NBB director of petroleum outreach. “Through the cooperative efforts of NBB and NORA, our confidence level is very high that we will continue to meet the challenges facing the energy industry. It sets a major milestone in the heating oil industry to both advance cleaner burning biodiesel and to introduce a truly new and improved product. Fuel dealers system-wide will be proud to offer their existing and future customers this option.”

NBB secured the term “Bioheat®” for use in identifying home heating oil blended with biodiesel, and sublicensed it to NORA so it can also help broaden the use of the fuel and its identity. Both will share use of the trademarked term and logo. A sublicense agreement for dealers is available on the NORA Web site on the “News” page.

“NBB has done a terrific job of developing an identity for Bioheat® oilheat” said John Huber, President of NORA. “Using this symbol will give consumers a quick read that they are using a renewable fuel to heat their home. It will give retailers a great way to connect with this product and the marketing efforts of NORA and NBB.”

As Bioheat® heating oil grows, thanks in part to favorable legislation like state tax credits in New York, other developments to expand the industry continue. Bioheat® fuel provides the same benefits as biodiesel-blended motor fuel: enhanced energy security; lower emissions and odor (depending on blend); and economic development. Further, Bioheat® fuel use shows a decrease in NOx emissions, and can clean out older heating oil systems over time.

The National Oilheat Research Alliance was established in 2001 by act of Congress to provide for research and development, education and training, and consumer education. It is designed to benefit the oilheating industry and its consumers.

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