Representatives of the biofuels industry asked Connecticut regulators Thursday to acknowledge liquid fuels in the state’s 2022 energy plan as a near-term option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Bioheat should be an established carbon-reducing pathway in the Comprehensive Energy Strategy (CES),” said Stephen Dodge, director of state regulatory affairs for Clean Fuels Alliance America (CFAA).

Electrification cannot “realistically” be the only path to emission reductions, when heating fuel blended with biodiesel can reduce GHGs “immediately,” he said during a Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) CES scoping meeting.

In its 2018 energy strategy update, DEEP credited biodiesel with improving air quality and reducing GHG emissions and called for further assessment of biodiesel market maturity. Displacing fossil fuels with biodiesel, the CES said, would require tracking feedstock sources, manufacturing, and amount sold and consumed.

DEEP accepted public comments at the scoping meeting as part of its proceeding to update the CES.

Dodge pointed to New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts as examples of states with an established biodiesel pathway for reducing emissions. Massachusetts regulators recently ruled that electric ratepayer-funded subsidies for liquid fuel-fired home heating should remain in place, he said, after the alliance “successfully argued that bioheat fuel is a legitimate pathway to immediately begin reducing CO₂ emissions.”

A study by Trinity Consultants, commissioned by CFAA, found that using 100% biodiesel as a heating oil replacement can reduce carcinogenic diesel particulate matter emissions by 86%.

At a 50% blend, biodiesel would have lower CO₂ emissions than power coming from the transmission grid, said Chris Herb, president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association.

“Conversions to cold climate heat pumps … will only increase CO₂ emissions” compared to biodiesel used for heating, he said.

Herb called for the 2022 CES update to “leverage” a law enacted last year that requires the blending of advanced biofuel with fuel oil starting at 5% in July and increasing to 50% by 2035. That law requires DEEP to consider in the CES how biofuel blends may contribute on a lifecycle basis to meeting the state’s GHG emission reduction targets and how a thermal portfolio standard could contribute to further reductions.

“Hundreds of thousands of homes in our state need little to no modifications … to start using a fuel that is cleaner and has the ability to displace fossil fuels today,” he said.

Advancing bioheat through the CES, he said, would relieve the current pressure to bring enough clean energy onto the electric system to accommodate the state’s efforts toward heat pump and electric vehicle adoption.

The Acadia Center, however, cautioned regulators against using alternative fuels in buildings.

“Numerous studies … have determined that there’s no cost-effective role for alternative fuels, such as renewable natural gas, biodiesel and green hydrogen, in buildings,” said Ben Butterworth, Acadia’s senior manager of climate and energy analysis.

Alternative fuels, he said, are “limited” and “expensive” and should be reserved for decarbonizing hard to electrify sectors, such as heavy industry, shipping and aviation.

Heather Deese, director of policy and regulatory affairs for Dandelion Energy, made the case for geothermal heat pumps, calling them a low-cost option for heating and cooling that significantly reduces GHG emissions.

“In order to provide for an equitable transition of the building stock, the CES should leverage the low ongoing operating costs of geothermal heat pumps,” Deese said, adding that the technology reduces household emissions by up to 80%.

Deese said the CES should set “ambitious” goals for transitioning to a clean energy economy and articulate “specific goals” for building electrification.

DEEP is accepting comments on the scope of the CES through March 3 and expects to publish the final strategy scope by April. The agency will offer additional stakeholder engagement opportunities throughout this year, and it anticipates publishing the final CES by the start of the 2023 legislative session, said Vicki Hackett, DEEP’s deputy commissioner for energy.