Written on: October 28, 2019

B5 and B20 Biofuel: What’s The Difference?

If you have heating oil delivered to your home anywhere in New York, you probably know that the State has mandated that all fuel oil sold must be Bioheat® – the industry’s official registered name for the fuel that consists of a blend of ultra-low-sulfur heating oil and renewable biodiesel.

What you might not know is that not all Bioheat is created equal.

While all heating oil sold in NY must be Bioheat, the percentage of biodiesel that the fuel contains can vary from vendor to vendor by as much as 15 percent – and that difference will cost you in more ways than one.

All Bioheat sold is designated with a “B” number, which indicates the amount of biodiesel contained in the fuel. For example, a five percent blend of biodiesel is called “B5,” a 10 percent blend is called B10, etc. New York State requires a minimum biodiesel content of five percent in all heating oil sold; the highest blend currently available is B20 (which is the Bioheat blend percentage we sell here at Westmore).

Here’s the problem: some local heating oil companies say they offer B20 Bioheat when their blend is actually a much lower percentage – often approaching the minimum B5 mandate!

This will make a big difference to you in several ways:, for one, the efficiency of your fuel burning will drop – as will the environmental performance of your heating system. But the most significant impact for you will come tax time: If your fuel is a true B20 blend – a product you can only get from Westmore in our NY service area – you’ll receive a 20¢-per-gallon state tax credit every year. Only the B20 blend that Westmore sells allows you to enjoy these big savings!

More Bioheat Facts

If you’re new to Bioheat (if you just purchased a home heated with oil, for example), you may not know much about this cleaner, greener heating oil. Here are three key Bioheat facts:

While the per-gallon price of Bioheat is slightly more than the price of traditional heating oil, it will save you money in the long run because it burns cleaner than regular heating oil – which means your heating system will last longer and require fewer repairs. You’ll also get a great tax credit, as we talked about above.
In nearly all cases, you won’t need to make any changes to your furnace, boiler or heating oil storage tank to use Bioheat.
By burning cleaner than regular heating oil, Bioheat reduces carbon and particulate emissions. Bioheat will also help your heating equipment last longer, which means that fewer furnaces and boilers will find their way into the landfill.

Westmore offers the only honest-to-goodness B20 Bioheat blend in our CT and NY service area. Contact us today to make the switch and join the Westmore family of customers!