What Is Heating Oil?

Written on: February 28, 2023

Where It Comes from and How It’s Evolved

Heating oil comes from crude oil, which has to be refined to remove impurities. It’s then separated into different “fractions.” More refined, lighter fractions are used to produce such products as gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel fuel and No. 2 home heating oil, which is what you use to heat your home. By the way, did you know that diesel fuel and No. 2 fuel oil are virtually the same thing, in terms of their chemical composition?

Refining is just a step in the process. There is more work to be done before your fuel reaches your heating oil tank. After it is refined and ready for use, heating oil is transported by ship, barge, truck, and/or pipeline to major fuel terminals. It is distributed from these terminals to local heating oil companies.

Many of these companies have their own storage facilities, which can hold thousands of gallons of heating oil. These secure storage facilities ensure that an adequate supply of fuel is on hand during the cold months to ensure people get their heating oil delivery whenever they need it.

Heating Oil Gets Cleaner and More Efficient

Home heating oil has progressively grown cleaner and more efficient. In recent years, there have been significant improvements in oil heat’s efficiency and cleanliness, thanks in large part to vast reductions in the sulfur content of heating oil. Here is why this is important.

• Ultra-low-sulfur heating oil (ULSHO) has 99% less sulfur in it than standard heating oil.
• The changeover to ULSHO results in a reduction in emissions of over 70%, compared with the emissions produced by heating oil from the past.
• A buildup of sulfur in the heating system can lead to system maintenance issues. The drastic reduction of sulfur means that there will be far fewer system issues, which will result in lower maintenance costs for heating oil consumers.
• Because there is virtually no sulfur in the heating system now thanks to ULSHO, heating oil systems can burn the fuel more efficiently, resulting in less fuel consumption and lower heating costs.
• ULSHO opens the door for the introduction of super-efficient heating systems, which are already being used with great results in other countries that already use ULSHO.

Bioheat® Fuel Lowers Our Carbon Footprint

In the Hudson Valley and elsewhere in the country, heating oil has been reformulated with Bioheat fuel, which consists of ultra-low sulfur heating oil that’s blended with renewable biodiesel. Bioheat fuel blends represent the future of heating oil in our country.

The most refined grade of heating oil available, Bioheat fuel is one of the cleanest burning heating sources for your home. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions significantly and no changes to your existing heating oil system are necessary.

Here are a few reasons why the use of Bioheat fuel is a game-changer in terms of reducing carbon emissions, according to Clean Fuels Alliance America:

• Using biodiesel and renewable diesel instead of petroleum-based fuels reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 70% on average.
• Biodiesel is the nation’s first domestically produced, commercially available advanced biofuel.
• The use of biodiesel over petroleum-based fuels reduces hydrocarbon emissions by 67%.

Bioheat fuel has a significant advantage over other “green” home heating products: it’s available right now and is currently offered by heating oil retailers. It’s heating both homes and water right now — all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The overall goal is to transition to even higher levels of Bioheat fuel, which will further reduce our carbon footprint and actually turn heating oil into a carbon-neutral energy source.

Find out more about Bioheat fuel in the Hudson Valley.