Know the Facts About Electric Heating

Electric Energy Isn’t as Clean as They Claim

• Electric Power plants are the country’s biggest user of fossil gas.¹
• U.S. power plants use over 500 million tons of coal per year.²
• Power plants produce between 1.6 and 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year.³
• Burning fossil fuels at power plants creates emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_X), particulate matter (PM), carbon dioxide (CO₂), mercury (Hg), and other pollutants which can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and increase the possibility of health issues ranging from cancer to immune system damage.
• More than half of all power plants in the U.S. are located near low-income communities.⁴ Minority, low-income, and indigenous populations frequently bear a disproportionate burden of environmental harms and adverse health outcomes.⁵

Electric Distribution “The Grid” Can’t Handle the Load

• Extreme weather poses challenges to the power supply, and the utilities can turn to “controlled” power outages.⁶
• It could cost $7 trillion to upgrade the U.S. power grid to meet the demand of “strategic electrification.”⁷ That's equal to $50,000 per home.
• Power grid operators regularly warn customers of “heightened risk” of power outages during extreme weather (heat or cold) due to increasing use of fossil gas for power generation, increasing demand from electric heating and vehicles, and distribution shortages.⁸

Electrification Costs Will Be Crushing

• Switching to electric heat pumps could cost as much as $42,000.⁹
• Only 6% of new homes in New England and 10% in the Mid-Atlantic are built with heat pumps as their primary heat source.¹⁰
• Air source heat pumps are less efficient in colder climates and these homes rely heavily on a back-up heating system during the winter.¹¹
• Wholesale electricity costs could double, going as high as $200/MWh – which would be paid through higher consumer electricity rates.¹²

Cleaner Energy with Biodiesel and Bioheat^® Fuel

• Renewable Bioheat^® fuel is fully compatible with all oil-fired boilers, furnaces, and water heaters as well as all heating oil storage tanks.
• By 2030, biodiesel will display 529 million gallons of petroleum in heating oil.¹³
• One Storage tank filled with Bioheat^® fuel has the power of about 700 electric battery storage systems.
• American biofuel production helps lower the cost of heating fuel by 4%.¹⁴
• Biodiesel is already providing low-carbon fuel for municipalities, fire departments, school buses, sanitation departments, trucks across the country and more.
• Clean, renewable biodiesel reduces our dependence on global supply chains and the impacts of foreign wars.