Vermont Biodiesel Project
Since Vermonters consume more than 300 million gallons of diesel fuel annually, there is significant market potential for supporting a local biofuels industry. To date, the Northeastern U.S. has lagged in the development of biodiesel markets and biodiesel production.
The Vermont Biodiesel Project proposes to address this gap by bringing information about the benefits of biodiesel to Vermont's institutional users and commercial fuel suppliers. Through a variety of market building initiatives, the Vermont Biofuels Association, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, Vermont Department of Public Service and the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, will help the emerging in-state fuel producers create a demand for their products.
The initiative will benefit Vermont, its citizens, and its environment by:
- Establishing the state as a regional leader in the production and use of renewable, low-emission biofuels
- Creating jobs in an expanding industry
- Improving air quality in Vermont and the Northeast
- Reducing emissions that contribute to global warming and acid rain
- Providing Vermont's family farms with new income streams from oilseed crops and by-products
- Potentially contributing to fuel price stability in New England by making available a regionally produced fuel
- Increasing Vermont's energy security by diversifying the fuel options for Vermonters.
A comprehensive project report was issued on October 20, 2006.
Vermont Bioheat Program
In late 2005 the Vermont Biofuels Association received a $36,000 grant to manage a statewide pilot project that will look at the use of biodiesel in residential home heating applications. The Vermont Bioheat Program is the first project of its kind in Vermont and one of only a few such projects that have been conducted in the nation.
The program is a collaboration between (NORA) the National Oilheat Resource Alliance, the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association (VFDA) and the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. Once the funding for the project was secured, the Vermont Biofuels Association was selected to manage it.
The goal of the program is to help build the market for biofuels in home heating by carefully studying the fuel stability and performance characteristics of B20 (a biodiesel blend consisting of 20% biodiesel and 80% No.2 petroleum heating oil). Biodiesel is a renewable, vegetable based fuel that blends easily with petroleum and in a B20 blend is known to perform well in home furnaces and boilers, without any significant equipment modification. Biodiesel has a less harmful impact on human health and reduces greenhouse gas and particulate emissions as well as sulfur and nitrogen oxides, when compared with No.2 heating oil.
Some Vermont fuel dealers have begun looking at how they can meet their customers' winter heating needs with a more environmentally benign fuel product that is produced in the U.S. "Many members of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association recognize the opportunities inherent in the Vermont bioheat effort," said Shane Sweet, executive vice president/director of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association. "There are clearly attractive aspects (of the study) for VFDA member companies that currently market heating oil and diesel fuels."
A comprehensive project report was issued on September 15, 2006