CONNECTICUT
Along with its priorities of promoting
Bioheat® to Connecticut customers
and making equipment rebates
available to help homeowners improve
their energy efficiency, CEMA
continued to focus on the real estate
community as a target audience for
its NORA activities. Focusing on Realtors,
homebuyers and home sellers
through the Partnership for Realty
and Oilheat Success (PRO$) program,
CEMA is supporting the industry in
Connecticut because this group continues
to be the least informed about
heating oil and the most likely to
consider alternative options without
understanding why today’s heating oil
remains a viable option.
This year’s program included inoffice
presentations to hundreds of
agents, distribution of thousands of
pro-oil and pro-efficiency materials to
hundreds of other real estate offices
and engagement with key Realtors
at real estate meetings, trade shows
and networking events.
CEMA has also launched a new
initiative to increase the technical
and practical knowledge base of the
state’s home inspectors. The program
will focus on bringing professional
education supplemented with printed
and online materials to help inspectors
do a better job of making proper
diagnoses and supporting Connecticut
oilheat homeowners.
In 2016, CEMA launched the Upgrade
& Save Connecticut rebate program.
The program currently offers
rebates of up to $650 per home: $650
for efficiency upgrades of oilheat furnaces
or boilers with an AFUE of 90%
or higher; $300 for upgrades to boilers
with an AFUE between 85% and
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89% or furnaces with AFUE between
83% and 89%; $300 for installation of
an aboveground double wall/safety
storage tank or $150 for installation
of an aboveground single-wall tank.
In previous years CEMA offered $500
for equipment upgrades regardless
of the new AFUE and $300 for any
aboveground storage tank replacement.
As of August 31, 2018, CEMA has
remitted $331,500 to 957 homeowners
since its inception. That represents
682 boiler/furnace upgrades
and 269 storage tank replacements.
The rebate program has been successful
in substantially reducing fuel
consumption: on average, boiler efficiency
increased from an AFUE of
76.15% to 86.2% and furnaces from
76.14% to 85.62%. These changes
represent a reduction of approximately
61,870 gallons of heating oil
per year.
DELAWARE
MARYLAND
Maryland and Delaware had
very active programs for assisting
homeowners. These efforts included
a rebate program for appliances and
tanks throughout the two states.
Additionally, training service
professionals is a high priority, and
many technicians were trained
throughout the state with NORA
subsidies.
KENTUCKY
In 2017, many Kentuckians learned
about the benefits of oilheat and Bioheat
® thanks to the NORA checkoff
program. HVAC technicians across
our state were educated on the benefits
of the product when KPMA staff
member Amy Page hosted a Bioheat®
booth at the Midwest Residential Energy
Conference in Lexington, KY on
March 19 and 20th. Throughout the
conference, she spoke with numerous
HVAC contractors and professionals in
the residential energy industry from
our region. Attendees were eager to
learn about the benefits of oilheat
and how to connect with companies
providing this service in the Commonwealth.
The booth highlighted
our Bioheat® branded video featuring
Woodford Oil’s Regional Manager
Scott Hacker, several publications on
the benefits of oilheat, and our popular
insulated lunch totes that carry the
Bioheat® and NORA logos. Attendees
were encouraged to visit our website,
heatingkentucky.com, to learn more.
To further educate the HVAC community
about the benefits of oilheat
and how to service furnace equipment,
the KPMA arranged for the
donation of several oil furnaces to
various community colleges throughout
Kentucky for the purpose of education
and training. The furnaces were
distributed in the fall of 2017 to Somerset,
Maysville, Morehead, and Mt.
Sterling community colleges.
MAINE
The Maine Energy Marketers Association
(MEMA) created an education
and efficiency effort that helped Maine
citizens understand the cleanliness,
value and current applications of today’s
modern oilheat which included
the transition to Ultra Low Sulfur heating
Oil. The message of the program
was Do Nothing and focused on the reduction
in particulate matter, NOx and
the improved efficiency, while stressing
that the consumer actually had to