ENERGY Biofuel: From “Oy!” to Soy rou don't care about the environ- . ern not lke you liter or start forest fires or anything. But you've got a building to heat, and only so much budget with which todo it. So, when somebody stars talking about heating oil made from soybeans or the unfortunately named rapeseed, you tend toile iti that part of your mind with the picture-phones and flying cars 28 HABITAT MARCH 2005 But there's biofuel in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Yes, it’s being processed in the lands of stoopball and the Yankee already heating a few single-family homes. Biofuel is currently a little ‘more expensive upfront than conven- tional No. 2 heating oil. It burns a little cleaner and thus more efficiently, how- ever, so deciding whether it's right for your co-op o condo requires a more long-term cost-benefit analysis than usual. But as with butter, margarine, and low-cholesterol-no-trans-fatty-acid- yogurt spread, it’s nice to have a choice besides oil and natural gas. So what's biofuel? “It’s a fuel that includes a plant product or any other organic compound] as part of its mix, explains John Nettleton of Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension research group, based in midtown Manhattan. Biofuel in the U.S. usually means a blend of 20 percent esterized soybean oil and 80 percent heating oil = a mix called B20. Sunflower oil, mustard-seed oil, and lots of other veg- etable oils also work. The military is a big user of biodiesel since “you've got a mess hall feeding a couple thousand marines twice a day so you have a lot NYWTIBH ANNOWHO YOU GOING TO CALL? New York State Energy Research and Development Authority 17 Columbia Circle Albany, N.Y. 1220: (Toll-free) 866-N http://www.nyserda.org/ ‘The Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College University Avenue at West 181 Street Bronx, N.Y. 10453 (718) 289-5100 http:/www:bee.cuny.edu/ Cornell Cooperative Extension/ New York City 16 East 34th Street 8th Floor New York, N.Y. 10016 (212) 340-2900 http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/ne w_york_city/ The National Bodies Board 3337a Emerald Lane P.O. Box 104898 Jefferson City, MO 65110-4898 (800) 841-5849 https/iwww of waste vegetable oil,” says Nettleton “We did a study of retail food outlets in Brooklyn last summer and found there’s somewhere between 1.6 and 1.8 million gallons a year of waste veg- etable oil just in Brooklyn, just in restaurants.” (Renderers for soap, ani- ‘mal feed, and cosmetics currently recy- cle 90 percent of that, just so you know the restaurants aren’t throwing it down the toilet.) Soybean appears to be the “green- est” — the most environmentally friend- ly ~ plant to use as biofuel, since grow- ing it doesn’t require nitrogen fertiliz~ et, which can add to the greenhouse effect. But that's more than you proba- bly need to know. What you do need to know is that residential boilers designed to bum No. 2 heating oil can burn B20 biofuel with minimal modification, if any at all, While B20 produces slightly fewer BTUs per volume than No. 2 oil, it also has a slightly higher burn rate, or heat output. And it burns more cleanly: biofuel in the boiler “exhibits reduced pollu- tion for a number of indicators, includ- ing particulates and sulphur dioxide, and it seems that nitrogen oxide [NOx] emission is the same or slightly reduced,” says Nettleton. Other sources aren’t so sure of that last part — one Department of Energy report cites a two percent NOx increase over conventional fuel. Yet even acknowled this, Dave Schildwachter of the Bronx fuel com- pany Fred M, Schildwachter & Sons, has been selling B20 to homeowners since the beginning of 2005. “There's improved efficiency due to things sta ing clean. There are fewer BTUs ver- sus standard No. 2 oil, but th cies more than make up for it.” he notes. “The boilers stay cleaner, even the nozzle strainers are cleaner.” And efficien they lived there themselves. for you and your building. PHONE: (212) 89 OUR CLIENTS RELY ON US FOR OUR EXPERTISE, AND OUR PERSONAL TOUCH. - Property managers who manage your building as if ~ Back-office systems that provide you with attention and services found nowhere else. ~ Confidence in knowing your manager is watching out ~ Areputation for management that is focused on people. CALL US TODAY AND MEET OUR PEOPLE. 3800 _ WEB: www.argo.com The Argo Corporation [MANAGING FINE PROPERTIES FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS as any super knows, there's nothing like clean nozzle-strainers. Biofuel critic Dr. David Pimentel, a Comell scientist and former chair of a Department of Energy panel that stud- ied corn-based ethanol production (which he deems a disaster), concedes that B20 “does burn a bit cleaner. But that’s only after you've produced it ~ after you have the fue.” When you add in production, processing, and trans- portation energy needs, he says, citing study he and a co-author published in the March 2005 issue of Natural Resources Research, soybea MARCH 2006 HABITAT 29WE PAINTA { DIFFERENT PICTURE ‘ aA GEMENT +2477 hanByon mana: e and respon: + Customi: orts ly basis | ‘eter Lehr, Director ent, today to Property The Wa’ 7001 Brush Holloy Westbury, NY info@kaleg’com www.kaléd.com Member, REBNY Ja 30 HABITAT ARCH 2006 BIOFUEL: PROS AND CONS (ote: Environmental effects below refer to end-use, and do not include effects ‘associated with fuel production and transportation.) PROS + Can be used wherever diesel fuel is utilized: vehicles, electricity generators, marine vessels, and oil-fired heating systems. * The soybean-oil portion is biodegradable, nontoxic, odorless, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. * Reduces problems associated with cold weather, stability, material compatibility, and storage-tank cleanliness. + Provides increased lubricity. * Can reduce carbon dioxide “greenhouse” emissions that may con- tribute to global warming, as well as other harmful emissions includ- ing sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. + Cleaner-burning properties enable cleaner heat exchangers in boilers and warm-air furnaces, theoretically reducing cost of annu- al cleaning and tune-up. CONS * Costs as much as 20 cents a gallon more than diesel fuel. + Two percent increases in nitrogen oxide emissions. + Limited emission benefits compared to new, low emission engines or after-market add-ons such as PM traps. * Cold-flow management costs. Lack of American Society for Testing and Materials standards, + Biofuel produced from feedstocks with high levels of saturated fatty acids (tallow, lard, some yellow grease) has a risk of freezing in tanks and forming crystals that plug fuel filters. Sources: U.S. Dept. of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE): University of Idaho; New York State Energy Research and Development Authority biofuel requires 27 percent more ener- gy than it gives in return. Leaving such macro-factors to poli- cy-makers (who also get mileage, so to speak, over the contention that domes- tically produced B20 lessens depen- dence on foreign oil), biofuel is at least a start. With Pimentel and others pro- jecting that petroleum use will peak in 2007 and that the world’s dwindling supply will tighten significantly in 40 to 50 years, governments and corpora- tions here and abroad are seeking alter- native fuels. In the New York metro- politan region, the Keyspan energy cor- poration — hardly a wild 'n’ crazy com- pany ~ is actively pursuing biofuel to help create electricity, according to a spokesperson. (The multinational British conglomerate BP, on the other hand, is looking for alternatives but opposes biofuel efforts in favor of