WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2016 - New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill Tuesday that puts the city on a path toward displacing 20 percent of the heating oil sold within the city with cleaner-burning, sustainable, biodiesel.
The bill, which was approved by a 47-3 vote by the city council last month, will increase the amount of biodiesel in heating oil in the City from the current two percent level to five percent October 1, 2017. The blend level then moves to 10 percent in 2025, 15 percent in 2030, and 20 percent in 2034.
“New York City is once again setting an example for the rest of the Northeast to follow by ensuring consumers are provided with the nation’s cleanest heating oil,” said Donnell Rehagen, Chief Operating Officer of the National Biodiesel Board. “Not only does biodiesel dramatically reduce carbon emissions, it reduces other harmful pollutants as well as smog, making New York’s air healthier to breathe.”
It is estimated that the increase from a two percent biodiesel blend to a five percent blend in the City would reduce the emissions equivalent to taking 45,000 cars off the road with the increase to 20 percent the equivalent of removing more than a quarter of a million cars.
Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as soybean oil, recycled cooking oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement fuel. It is the first commercial-scale fuel produced across the U.S. to meet the EPA’s definition as an Advanced Biofuel - meaning the EPA has determined that biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 percent when compared with petroleum diesel.
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