Successful home heating bio-fuel trial
OFTEC and Emo have announced the successful completion of a four-year trial of a new environmentally friendly home heating bio-fuel in Killinchy, County Down.
The organisation which represents the home heating and cooking industry and Emo Belfast celebrated the success of the four year trial of the new bio-fuel at a NI Housing Executive bungalow in Killinchy that is home to Mrs Lauren McCormick and her family.
With the right support from Government, OFTEC believes the bio-fuel has the potential to reduce the overall carbon footprint of Northern Ireland, where over 60% of all homes currently use heating oil as their primary heating source.
The bio-fuel, which was mixed and stored by Emo in Belfast, is a kerosene-based fuel which contains 30% Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME). FAME can be sourced from animal fat or vegetable oil from plants and is 100% renewable.
The trade organisation hopes the new B30K home heating bio-fuel will now be supported by the Northern Ireland Government in phase 2 of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), a grant to encourage householders to switch to renewable fuels.
OFTEC today reiterated its call on Energy Minister Arlene Foster to include the new home heating oil in the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) plans, set to be announced later this month. By including the fuel, the new home heating oil would be an affordable and environmentally friendly option for householders in Northern Ireland. Calculations from SAP 2012 show that B30K bio-fuel produces 21% less carbon emissions than burning 100% kerosene, 60% lower than coal and 111% lower than electricity.
David Blevings, Ireland Manager of OFTEC said: “We are delighted with the success in Killinchy and the potential overall of this new bio-fuel which has been developed by the
home heating oil industry to help reduce our CO2 footprint. Inclusion of bioliquids like B30K in the domestic RHI would be a great step forward for Northern Ireland.
Suzanne Waddell, Marketing Manager for Emo commented, “We are delighted to be pioneering this new project in conjunction with OFTEC and have been pleased with the positive results from the initial four-year trial. At Emo, we are constantly investing in new products and services to meet the changing energy needs of our customers. The success of our four year trial now provides consumers with a potentially viable option to reduce their carbon emissions with this new bio-fuel. As most modern oil boilers and tanks only require minor modification this technology is available to the majority of oil users in Northern Ireland for a relatively small cost and can easily be converted by an OFTEC registered technician.”
The trial of the new bio-fuel started in Mrs Lauren McCormick’s home in Killinchy back in March 2011 and over the four year period the CO2 emissions from this property have reduced by 2.5 tonnes by using B30K instead of 100% kerosene
David Blevings added: “The trial in Killinchy demonstrated that this bio-liquid home heating fuel can be installed with relative ease, is environmentally friendly and those interested should contact OFTEC or one of our registered technicians to discuss the options.”
