A growing share of biodiesel in the United States is being used outside the transportation sector, as per the new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) that is showing rising consumption in the residential, commercial, and electric power sectors, reported Biodiesel Magazine.
Until recently, the EIA attributed all biodiesel consumption in the U.S. to transportation, where trucks primarily use it in blends with petroleum diesel. In 2023, transportation still made up about 95% of the nearly 46 million barrels of biodiesel consumed nationwide.
However, biodiesel is increasingly being used as a heating fuel when blended with heating oil. The EIA estimates that about 5% of total U.S. biodiesel use in 2023 came from the residential and commercial sectors—up from just 1% a decade earlier. This increase is largely due to biofuel blending laws for heating oil in northeastern states.
New York leads the nation in biodiesel use for heating, accounting for 57% of residential and commercial biodiesel consumption in 2023. New York City introduced the country’s first biodiesel blending law in 2012, requiring a 2% blend with heating oil. A statewide law followed in 2022 with a 5% minimum blend, set to rise to 10% in 2025 and 20% by 2030. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, nearly 16% of homes in New York relied on heating oil in 2023—about four times the national average.
Connecticut and Rhode Island have enacted similar mandates. Connecticut began a 5% biodiesel blend requirement in 2022, with planned increases to 10% in 2025 and 50% by 2035. In Rhode Island, a 5% blend law that began in 2017 rose to 10% in 2023, with plans to reach 20% in 2025 and 50% by 2030. In 2023, over 34% of Connecticut households and 26% in Rhode Island used heating oil as their main source of heat.
Biodiesel use in the electric power sector remains small, accounting for less than 1% of total U.S. consumption in 2023. Hawaii dominates this category, having used biodiesel to generate electricity since 2009. In 2023, about 68% of Hawaii’s electricity was generated from petroleum fuels—the highest of any U.S. state—while biodiesel contributed around 1% of its total power generation.
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