For 120 years, Sack Energy has been in business to keep families warm and safe during cold New England winters. I’m the fifth generation owner and I am here to tell you that the way we do business has drastically changed and evolved over the last 100 years. Today, we are making a better fuel and a cleaner product for the environment and consumers.
Here’s how we’ve changed.
In 1902, my great-great grandfather, Harris Sack, used horse-pulled wagons and sleighs to deliver coal to families to keep warm during cold months. In the 1920s, my grandfather Sam Sack went from shoveling coal in the basement to delivering home heating oil. In the 1990s, my father Stephen Sack, Sr. went from using a high sulfur heating oil to a low sulfur heating oil. In 2000s, we changed to an ultra low sulfur heating oil, which emits less sulfur oxide (SOX) than natural gas. In 2010, I also changed the way we do business by starting to sell Bioheat® fuel.
What exactly is Bioheat® fuel?
Bioheat® is a blended fuel made with biodiesel and ultra low sulfur heating oil. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel made from used cooking oil, discarded animal fat, and soybean oil. It’s also made right here in the USA. It lowers greenhouse emissions by 86 percent! Not only that, it keeps waste out of landfills and recycles it into a clean burning fuel to heat your home! If you use heating oil in Connecticut, you are already using Bioheat® and helping to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Biodiesel lowers our dependency on foreign oil.
Biodiesel is a direct replacement of fossil fuels that can be used in the equipment that is already in your basement without any expensive upgrade! By 2035, 50 percent of all home heating oil in Connecticut will be a biodiesel blend by state law, a move I supported as well as my fellow home heating oil providers in the state.
This helps us reduce our dependency on foreign oil. It’s also a very economical way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions! Again, it’s a win/win!
The progress we’ve made is in jeopardy!
All the progress my family and the other 600 other home heating oil providers in the state have made during the last 100 years is in jeopardy. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental protection (DEEP) has a new plan to electrify everything including the way we heat our homes and drive our cars. It’s called the Comprehensive Energy Strategy (CES-2022). I’m here to sound the alarm this for many reasons but to boil it down, I’ll give you two:
One, hooking up more homes and cars to an already fragile regional electricity grid is a problem and could lead to power outages and even higher electric bills! We already pay some of the highest electricity rates in the nation. Can you imagine how much more you’ll pay with more homes and cars wired into it?
Two, electricity in the state is not a zero emissions fuel as many regulars would like you to think. It’s not hooked up to windmills and solar panels. Right now, our power grid is fueled by natural gas, fossil fuel and coal during cold winter months, which will lead to more greenhouse gas emissions and environmental issues.
Our product does not require more people hooking up to the electricity grid. It’s better for the environment and it’s better than natural gas.
For those of you who want the numbers, I have them. Ultra low sulfur heating oil has less particulate matter than natural gas! (Particulate matters are the fine pieces you seen when burning wood, for example.) Ultra low sulfur heating oil emits 15 parts per million (PPM) when it comes to sulfur oxide (SOX) emissions. Natural gas comes in at 50 PPM.
The math and science are on our side for our fuel and for our customers.
Bioheat® fuel deserves a seat at the table!
As the state considers this new energy plan to electrify everything, I am here today to compel them to leave room at the table for us as well.
All clean renewable fuels deserve a seat at the table and deserve to be included in the new Comprehensive Energy Strategy.
Bioheat® fuel does not require expensive upgrades. It won’t overburden the electricity grid. It’s made right here in Connecticut and it’s working right now to lower greenhouse gas emissions. It is an equitable and affordable way to help the state reach the greenhouse gas (GHS) reductions required by the Global Warming Solutions Act. (Public Act 08-98)
Don’t put my company out of business for doing everything right. Include Bioheat® fuel in the plan.
Stephen Sack is President of Sack Energy, a wholesaler distributor of Bioheat® fuel based in West Hartford.