Kris DeLair , executive director of the Empire State Energy Association since 2017 , was honored by the Hudson Valley Oil & Energy Council as its Person of the Year .

“ This industry has always been able to pick itself back up and we ’ ve always had the grit and determination to meet adversity head-on , and that is one of the things I love most about the industry ,” DeLair told Fuel Oil News following a dinner dance held in her honor on Nov . 4 at the Black Barn at Diamond Mills in Saugerties , N . Y .

“ The fuels that they ’ re delivering and the products and services that they provide — they ’ re what power our state and our country ,” DeLair said . “ They ’ re responsible for keeping our lights on , our homes warm , and they keep our vehicles moving . I applaud everyone that ’ s working in this industry . I ’ m very , very proud to represent all of them ., and I wouldn ’ t trade it for the world .”

Each year , the Person of the Year chooses a charity to receive proceeds from the event . DeLair chose the Veterans Miracle Center in Albany , which received $ 1,500 . The Veterans Miracle Center serves veterans and active members of the military . — Stephen Bennett l FON

Contributed photos .

Indoor air quality has become a newsworthy topic as certain pollutions have been identified as health hazards by , among others , the U . S . Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ). It has been suggested that combustion powered home heating appliances are some of the sources of these indoor pollutants . As combustion powered heaters make up almost 75 % of all heating appliances , NORA deemed an investigation was in order .

Of particular interest is particulate matter ( PM ), which is known to have both human health and negative environmental impact . NORA , at its Liquid Heating Fuels Research Center in Plainview , NY , took a deep look into PM in home living spaces to determine whether liquid fuel combustion devices negatively impacted indoor air quality .

Fortunately , a low-cost and effective method of measuring PM has recently entered the marketplace . Named PurpleAir sensors , these devices measure PM , PM2.5 and PM10 ( the subscripts denote the particle sizes in micrometers [µ m ]) in micrograms per cubic meter (µ g / m3 ), which indicates the actual amount of particulates found in the air . Using dual laser-based particle counters , they can measure particles larger than 0.3 microns with counting efficiency , reported by the manufacturer to be 50 % at 0.3 microns and 98 % at > 0.5 microns .

The PurpleAir units can be installed to perform stand-alone , storing its readings offline , or connected to the internet to display the PM2.5 concentrations at its location on a worldwide map of an increasingly expanding network . For the NORA study , only offline measurements were used in houses with primarily a liquid-fuelfired heating appliance . Eight homes — five in NY , two in MA and one in NJ — were chosen for this study . Seven of the eight were selected because they contained a liquid-fuel-fired heating system . The other was chosen to record data in the den area ( kitchen and living room with a fireplace ) during a time when the homeowner planned to cook and light a fire in a wood stove . A set of PurpleAir sensors was provided for each home . Typically , at least one indoor and one outdoor sensor was installed in each site . Four of the sites were fitted with a flue gas measurement sensor to indicate when the heating system was running .

Liquid fuel-fired boiler and furnace installations typically include barometric dampers , which are draft-operated “ doors ” that open to allow room air into the flue pipe to prevent high draft levels . High draft levels can change burner air fuel ratio and , in an extreme case , can destabilize a flame . Modern burners for liquid fuels have higher static pressure fans and are less influenced by these draft changes , but barometric dampers are commonly found in many installations . Barometric dampers may be a potential source of indoor air pollution as flue gas could spill into the room during startups . While this does not usually happen with modern equipment , the Purple Air sensors were placed as close as possible to the site barometric dampers to record possible spillage .

Note : This is an excerpt , reprinted from a document published by the National Oilheat & Research Alliance . The complete document is available at : www . noraweb . org / 2023 / 11 / nora-looks-at-indoorair-quality /. l FON

16 JANUARY 2024 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www . fueloilnews . com