What ’ s up with “ will-call ?” It ’ s said that some fuel oil marketers used to look sideways at the will-call business , but some of them are now taking another look — or they should be , according to a recent webinar on the subject .

The aim of the webinar was to encourage marketers to rethink preconceived notions about will-call and COD — and to help fuel and propane marketers gain insight into how to attract and convert a new breed of will-call and COD customers without hurting

STEPHEN BENNETT their company ’ s brand or losing money , reports contributing writer Maura Keller in our cover story , “ The New Ways of Will Call ” ( page 20 ).

B20 to B100 Blends as Heating Fuels is the title of a newly released report from Brookhaven National Laboratory . The report was compiled by Dr . Thomas A . Butcher and Rebecca Trojanowski at the Sustainable Energy Technologies Department / Energy Conversion Group of Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton , N . Y . It was submitted to the New York State Energy Research Development Authority , the National Biodiesel Board and the National Oilheat Research Alliance . Released at the end of 2018 , the document gathers in one place numerous research projects looking at how biodiesel ( ASTM 6751 ) performs , at various blend levels , when combined with petroleum heating oil for space heating applications .

“ Biodiesel has been blended into petroleum heating for more than a decade ( Bioheat ) and increased blend levels are desirable ,” NORA said in a statement announcing the release of the report . “ The addition of biodiesel in the fuel significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions among other benefits for homeowners , the oilheating industry and the environment .”

Based on interest from fuel oil dealers to find novel ways to compete against what is perceived to be cleaner burning natural gas , the National Oilheat Research Alliance teamed with the National Biodiesel Board , industry and university technical experts , and Brookhaven National Laboratory to fill in the technical gaps identified for B6-B20 in home heating oil applications , the report notes .

Currently , biodiesel / heating oil blends at levels up to B5 are commonly used in heating systems in the Northeast , the introduction points out . “ This is a fully accepted fuel in existing equipment and fueling infrastructure and is being embraced by much of the market as a means to reduce the carbon footprint of home heating oil while providing other environmental , economic , and performance benefits .” An excerpt from the introduction begins on page 24 .

Truck technology , especially how trucks are powered , is a target of innovators , as two articles in this issue illustrate . Depending how well the innovators do , it ’ s conceivable that their efforts could result in reduced usage of diesel fuel in the transportation sector . How soon an impact might be felt , and the potential scale of that impact seems unclear from here , but the innovations bear watching . In this issue , there is an update on a project to develop zero-emission trucks (“ Toyota , Kenworth to Develop Zero Emission Trucks ,” page 37 ). Autonomous or self-driving trucks are another innovation receiving a lot of attention . We spotlight an example on page 42 : “ TuSimple Operates Self-Driving Trucks in U . S .” l FON

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