Council Could Require Biodiesel to Heat Buildings [UPDATED]
For those buildings in the city that are kept warm with heating oil, a City Council proposal could throw some old French fry residue into the mix. Tomorrow, the council's environmental protection committee is hearing two bills that would require all heating oil to be 20 percent biodiesel, forcing the more environmentally friendly combustible often made from vegetable oil into the mix. The bills, introduced by Council Members James Gennaro and David Yassky, would take full effect in 2013.
Biodiesel tends to be more expensive than normal heating oil, though advocates in New York and elsewhere are pushing for government subsidies.
Update 7:20 p.m.
We just got ahold of Councilman Gennaro, who said that the bill will affect approximately 1.2 million households in the city.
As to cost, he said that while a biofuel heating oil blend runs more than standard heating oil, a requirement would bring down the price via economies of scale.
“Once we do this and make a mandate, then everyone will have to do it, and the price will come down,” Mr. Gennaro said.
Biofuel blends can cost as much as 20 cents per gallon more than standard heating oil, though in his executive budget unveiled yesterday, Governor Spitzer proposed a subsidy that would make it more competitive.
Ya, it's good to force them to put attention on environment.
Every restaurant in the city should be required to use a grease recovery device (GRD) instead of or in conjunction with their existing grease traps. All the oils from cooking are currently going down the drain and into the city’s sewer system. Millions of dollars are spent each year removing these oils and repairing the damage created by the oils.
Some of these GRD systems remove nearly 100% of the oil that would other wise go down the drain. The oil recovered in this manner is generally 95% free of any water and can easily be turned into bio-diesel. It would make sense to collect the oils before entering the sewer system and use them to make bio-diesel for use by the city.
In order to alleviate the cost of these GRD systems for the restaurant the city could offer a phase in of the requirements or offer some tax incentives for making the transition.
While this is a good idea, the Council should make sure that it is not creating a new environmental problem as it addresses an existing one. I have heard that the pressure to produce vegetable oil for these purposes has caused large swaths of jungle to be cleared for the planting of palm oil trees to produce the oil to satisfy this new demand. That is not a good thing. The legislation should specify that only already-used oil qualifies.
GRD for restaurants should be required, and all NYC govt vehicles (official cars, NYPD, fire strucks etc.) new purchases should be acquired with bio-diesel capability on a phased basis. When, and if affordable and available, same with electric cars. (Perhaps NYC govt., Israel, and Renault can have a demo program here in NYC with official vehicles, same as in Israel. Only catch, we want the factory to build the vehicles somewhere in NYC so there can be jobs here. Hey, if they build the rail freight tunnel, then you can locate the factory in Bklyn on rail spurs and ship these cars and vehicles to points west and south, and have jobs and money in City, for a change.
Great job Bloomberg and Doctoroff for neglecting rail freight, which would have real impact on environment by taking trucks off of the GW.