Bates College

(Lewiston, ME)

Background

Bates College is an internationally recognized liberal arts institution located in Lewiston, Maine. Bates College has over 2,000 students with a 10:1 student to professor ratio and is one of seven college campuses that are carbon neutral, nationwide.¹’² Maine Standard Biofuels has serviced Bates College with services since November 2014, and began collecting their used cooking oil in February 2015.³ With 4,250 gallons of total recycled oil collected, Bates College continues to exhibit nationally recognized leadership with their everyday operations and sustainable practices.

Challenges

Bates is equivalent to a small town in terms of energy consumption and sustainability has become imperative to their nature as they continue to push towards more sustainable and efficient practices.² A 30 year journey towards carbon neutrality with students, faculty, and businesses alike has led Bates down a path of green leadership that allowed their endeavors to triumph across campus. Together, Bates achieved their 100% carbon neutrality goals one year earlier than planned, in 2019.²

Implementation

Maine Standard Biofuels partnered with Bates College in their aspirations to neutralize their carbon footprint. With our successful partnership, biodiesel now represents a portion of 10% of their emissions profile and has reduced their carbon impact by over 470,000 pounds. The partnership began in 2014 with the replacement of Bioheat for a handful of houses in-place of solely petroleum fuels, and grew in 2015 when their dining commons began recycling used cooking oil. Beginning in 2018, Bates then fully replaced all heating oil with Maine Standard Biofuels.⁵

Bates total environmental impact from November 2014 to October 2021 has resulted in the carbon equivalencies equal to 72.6 tons of waste recycled instead of landfilled, planting 3,529 trees that are grown for 10 years, or removing 46.4 passenger vehicles from the road for one year.⁶’⁷ The partnership that aided Bates College towards their goal continues with Maine Standard Biofuels, and expects to grow even further by implementing even greater carbon sequestering practices. Even now, Bates shows green leadership throughout their campus with student environmental leaders who work toward promoting environmentally responsible behavior.²

CO2 Reduction from Biofuel Used

Casco Bay Lines

Island Transportation District
(Portland, ME)

Background

Casco Bay Lines is a ferry system that provides year-round passenger, freight, postal and vehicle ferry service to the islands of Casco Bay from Portland, Maine.¹ It’s one of the oldest ferry systems in the country and has been in operation for over 150 years. Beginning in 2014, Casco Bay Lines improved their operation with a more sustainable approach; Biodiesel with Maine Standard Biofuels.²

Challenges

After the impacts felt from the Great Recession, the Casco Bay Island Transit District (CBITD) set a course to and sustain their operations for the future.³ An important aspect to their plans include updating a portion of their fleet, as three out of five have passed their “useful life” of 30 years.⁴ By investing in more efficient vessels, they will be able to improve and sustain their capacity and lower their costs on maintenance.

Implementation

Since 2014, the CBITD has partnered with Maine Standard Biofuels to utilize an 80/20 blend of biodiesel with Dennis Burke Oil; B99.9 blended with ultra low-sulfur diesel. This has shown a significant improvement in the current fleet’s engine performance, resulting in less black particulate pollution, and cleaner engines upon biannual maintenance. Continuing these practices alongside newer vessels has the potential to both lower CO₂ emissions and sustain their endeavors.

Resolution and Data

In total, the CBITD has mitigated over five and a half million pounds of CO₂ since switching to biodiesel.5 This has been the result of over 297,000 gallons of B99.9 biofuel used to blend fuel year round for Casco Bay Ferries. The table below illustrates the equivalent carbon impact that the CBITD has had on the environment since this change. Due to a cleaner burning, sustainable fuel source, the CBITD has been able to diminish a large portion of their carbon footprint equivalent to removing 409 cars from the road for one year, recycling 639 tons of waste instead of sending it to a landfill, or planting 31,059 trees that grow over ten years.⁶ Through this partnership with Maine Standard Biofuels, Casco Bay Ferry Lines continues to show their commitment to green leadership and offer passengers the best possible services, to their fullest potential.

Casco Bay Lines

Carbon Equivalency From Biodiesel Used

Hannaford Supermarkets

(New England)

Background

Hannaford Supermarkets is a regional grocery chain based in Scarborough, ME and was founded in 1883 in Portland, ME. Currently, Hannaford has 184 locations across New England and New York, and is part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in the Netherlands.¹ Maine Standard Biofuels services 40% of all Hannaford locations, 53% of which are in Maine. Being partners since 2015 has equated to nearly 2,000 pickups and over 166,000 gallons of recycled used cooking oil.²

Challenges

Hannaford in alignment with its parent company, Ahold Delhaize, strives to be, “Grounded in Goodness,” by focusing on sustainable business practices. Last year, Hannaford achieved zero food waste to landfill across the banner. Additionally, the business continues to initiate practices that will reduce its carbon footprint like reducing plastic waste, improving energy efficiency, and reducing emissions within their own operations.³ Ahold Delhaize’s goal is to reduce their carbon footprint by 50% in these areas by 2030 across all of their operations. This would include eliminating food waste, reducing plastic packaging, and using alternative energy to support a reduction in total emissions.

Implementation

Maine Standard Biofuels has partnered with Hannaford in 74 locations across New England and New York to recycle their used cooking oil to be processed into biofuel, and will service all Hannaford locations that have used cooking oil by 2023.² Pickup frequency varies with each Hannaford location but averages to approximately 4.5 annual pickups per location.² Rather than disposing of used cooking oil into food waste bins or the garbage, Hannaford diverts used cooking oil into secure containment that is then picked up and used as feedstock to produce alternative fuels. Hannaford then purchases MSB biodiesel, to fuel a portion of their distribution vehicle fleet thereby reducing their carbon emissions and dependence on traditional petroleum fuels.⁴

Resolution and Data

The aggregate volume of recycled cooking oil that has been collected from 74 Hannaford locations is 166,276 gallons as of October 2021.² The amount of CO2 sequestered from the biodiesel produced from Hannaford’s used cooking oil has the carbon equivalency of 340 tons of waste recycled instead of landfilled, removing 218 passenger vehicles from the road for one year, or planting 16,546 trees that are grown for 10 years.⁵’⁶ The partnership that Hannaford has with Maine Standard Biofuels continues to aid their endeavors to accomplish their goals of eliminating food waste and reducing emissions from their operations.

Hannaford Supermarkets

Carbon Impact from Recycled Used Cooking Oil

Maine DOT

(Department Of Transportation)

Background

The Maine Departnment of Transportation, a cabinet-level private agency, employs 1,800 Maine residents with many locations across the entire state.¹ With nearly 18,000 lane miles of highway in their transportation infrastructure, the Maine DOT’s primary focus is statewide transportation safety and the most reliable transportation systems possible with available resources. The initiation of two pilot programs in the fall of 2020 with Maine Standard Biofuels (MSB) began after months of research on lowering carbon emissions and researching qualified potential suppliers.¹

First, by directly replacing traditional number 2 heating oil with MSB’s Bio20 heating oil blend in the Main Office and Main Garage in Scarborough, Main DOT found that they could significantly reduce their carbon emissions without any major changes in their daily operations. In April 2021, the Southern Maine DOT then introduced, MSB’s biodiesel gradually into their diesel vehicle fleet. To ensure that there wouldn’t be any maintenance or performance issues they started by implementing a B10 blend, increasing gradually to a B20 blend of biodiesel. After this succssful pilot study, the Maine DOT expanded the region to include all Southern Maine locations.

Challenges

With a mission to responsibly provide customers with the safest and most reliable transportation system possible, Maine DOT also holds environmental sustainability at the forefront of their operations. In 2020, the Maine State Govornment issued the four year climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait, to put Maine on a trajectory of becoming carbon neutral by 2045.²

By implementing such bold climate actions, the first challenge was identifying the share of CO₂ emissions by their source in order to pinpoint where improvements could be made. The state’s Lead By Example report found that the top producers of CO₂ in Maine were diesel, electricity, gasoline, and heating oil.² The Maine DOT continues to show green leadership and has taken the initiative to implement green practices across the state, saving energy and reducing emissions.

Implementation

After a favorable study with the direct biofuel replacement, the pilot project offices and garages found no negative effects to their facilities or fleets. According to the Director of Fleet Services, no modifications were needed for their furnaces, and there were no maintenance or performance changes reported in their fleet operations.³ The resulting data from the study was a clear reduction in CO₂ emissions in comparison to their traditional past practices. The Maine DOT then planned to model the pilot study by introducing these green practices into all of their Southern Maine locations. To date, MSB now services eight Southern Maine DOT locations with heating oil, and fifteen garages with on-road biodiesel blends for their fleets.

Resolution and Data

In total, the Maine DOT has utilized over 154,000 gallons of biofuel since December 2019. Between on-road biodiesel and biobased heating oil, the resulting impact has shown a 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions without the need for any major changes.³ A cumulative report of biofuel usage during this phase shows that the Maine DOT utilized 77,427.4 gallons of B20, 39,409 gallons of B15, and 37,393.1 gallons of B10; resulting in a total of 154,229.5 gallons of biofuel. According to the Biodiesel Emissions Calculator, the aggregate total usage of biofuel used by the Maine DOT, displayed in Table 1 (See Green Leaders Report), shows a total carbon impact of 472,610.17 lbs.⁴

The partnership with Maine Standard Biofuels that the Maine DOT initiated for their environmental impact endeavors has accomplished a significant reduction in their carbon footprint. The total carbon reduction is equivalent to the removing of 46.6 cars from the road, recycling 72.9 tons of waste instead of landfilling, or planting 3,545 trees shown in the Figure 1 below.⁵

If Maine continues on this trajectory, it’s no doubt that the DOT will be able to meet their projections to significantly reduce carbon emissions in this sector. These locations plan on continuing their efforts to work with Maine Standard Biofuels to increase their total carbon reduction while expanding the adoption of these practices throughout the state. By continuing this partnership, the Maine DOT’s adoption of sustainably sourced fuel directly contributes to our states effort to, “Lead By Example”.

“Wherever possible, we will make buildings more energy efficient and we will tap into renewable energy, helping us fight climate change and saving taxpayer money in the long-run. Today, we take another step toward fulfilling our state motto, Dirigo, I lead.”

-Governor Janet Mills

Summary of Total Impact

The Green Leadership shown within these four case studies display each organizations endeavors to pursue lower carbon impacts. Through mitigation practices, with a focus on renewable energy usage and waste diversion, the four cases spotlighted have cumulatively made a carbon reduction of 8.727 million pounds of carbon dioxide. Figure C shows the percentage of total impact from each of these case studies by their total carbon impact. The carbon sequestered from the data, shown in Table 2, has the equivalent carbon impact of removing 861 cars from the road for one year, recycling 1,347 tons of waste rather than sending it to a landfill, or planting 65,461 tree seedlings that are grown for ten years. Although the length of the partnerships with Maine Standard Biofuels varies, the leadership from each organization is a stride in the right direction to support our communities and the Great State of Maine.