Biodiesel Keeps Home Fire Burning

Biodiesel, the vegetable-oil alternative to diesel that sparked a small, grass-roots movement, is exploding onto the commercial marketplace and rapidly gaining widespread acceptance. But not as an alternative to gasoline, as many had envisioned. This clean-burning, renewable fuel is making its way into a growing number of American homes as a substitute for residential heating oil.

Biodiesel previously was overlooked as a heating fuel because heating oil was cheaper. But prices for conventional heating oil have doubled since 2001. And events like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the war in Iraq have pushed the nation’s precarious relationship with foreign oil to the forefront of the normally energy-blind American consciousness.

The combination of price-gap reduction and increased public awareness opened the door for advocates who recognized an opportunity to grow the biodiesel market.

By Gretchen Cuda

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