Originally published August, 2016

If your heating system is over 20-years old, chances are that it is performing at less than 80-percent efficiency. In fact, the older a heating system is, the less efficient they tend to be. You should be planning to replace your old system for three important reasons:
 

1. It is costing you money.
2. It could cause you headaches.
3. There are great rebates and loan programs available.

 
About Crowley Fuel Company’s installation team:
 

• We give our customers the best value for their heating system upgrade.
• We install the most efficient, reliable and serviceable equipment at reasonable prices.
• We stand behind our work with a free three-year service contract to customers who buy their heating oil exclusively from Crowley Fuel.
• We are certified installers for most brands of boilers and furnaces. We recommend the installation of:
  • Biasi low-mass, triple-pass, cast-iron boilers that are 87-percent efficient with a lifetime warranty on the heat exchanger
  • Williamson warm-air furnaces that are 86-percent efficient with a 10-guage steel heat exchanger. There is a limited lifetime warranty on the heat exchanger.

 
MassSave has some great rebate and loan programs for homeowners who buy their electricity from a participating electric company such as National Grid. You pay into this fund every month through an Energy Efficiency Charge at the rate of .01624 per kWh, so you might as well get some benefit from all the money you’ve been paying all of these years! I recommend a visit to masssave.com to learn more about how you can take advantage of these programs.
 
MassSave also offers rebates for air-source heat pumps such as the Mitsubishi system that Crowley Fuel installs. If you are planning to have a wall-mount AC/heat pump system installed, be sure to check MassSave and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) for rebates on their Air-source Heat Pump Program (ASHP). Go to ASHP@masscec.com, or give me a call for more information.
 
You can also call me for a free consultation and information that will help you make important decisions about heating your home efficiently and reliably. 

Bob

Originally published February, 2016

​I was reading an online report from the BBC on February 19 entitled, "California methane leak 'permanently sealed',” which, if you didn't know, was a 4-month-long gas-well leak at the Aliso Canyon storage field. This unfortunate situation brought up many questions of inconsistency and concern.
 
The first one is: Why wasn't this reported on the same level that the BP oil release into the Gulf of Mexico was?
 
According to Mark Bittman's September 24, 2013 New York Times Article, "Is Natural Gas Clean?" methane is 70-percent more potent of a greenhouse gas than CO2. Like the BP release it is not known exactly how much methane escaped, but the BBC reported an estimate of 94,100 metric tonnes which was enough to raise California's entire emissions of methane "by roughly 20-percent!" 
 
This kind of pollution puts the Aliso Canyon release at the level of the BP release, which had daily reports on progress (or lack of progress) in dealing with the problem. There was a large public outcry at the time, which brings me to the second question regarding the inconsistency of this situation: Where's the outrage?
 
Why weren't more people upset than just the few thousand who were moved out of their nearby homes and Erin Brockovich (who exposed Pacific Gas and Electric for polluting wells in 1993)?
 
The last question that I will leave you with is: Why do they call it natural gas?
 
If anyone can find the answer to that question beyond the reasoning that it’s a substance that comes naturally out of the ground, please let me know. Why isn't petroleum described as natural? It, too, comes naturally out of the ground. I think that we all know the answer, which is that the natural gas industry has done a much better job marketing itself as the cleaner energy alternative, and they’ve hidden the dirty parts of their product from the general public.
 
My only reason for writing this blog is to point out to consumers that gas is a fossil fuel like heating oil, there is nothing natural about it, and it deserves no more special treatment than any other fossil fuel.

​Bob

Originally published February, 2016

​We recently had a reporter from Turley Publications come to our office to interview and take pictures for a story about Crowley Fuel that ran in the February 5, 2016 edition of the Quaboag Current.
 
The Quaboag Current staff writer, Sloane Perron, wrote an excellent article that told the story of Crowley Fuel, past and present. She did not fail to mention that we have been serving the heating needs of area residents for over 95 years!
 
Looking back at past success and family tradition is a satisfying thing to do, and it does give you the strength and confidence to go forward into a whole new world of heating technology. But, in order to get to the 100-year celebration mark that we are beginning to think about, we do not spend too much time thinking about the past. But we do honor the past and those who have kept the fires burning over all of those years by doing the best we can in the present day.
 
You may have heard, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well, it takes a team to offer all of the products and services that Crowley Fuel currently offers. We have added wood pellets, wood pellets stoves, wood pellet boilers and air-sourced heat pumps to provide heating and cooling. Our staff has been getting training in these new services, and we have plans to become trained and licensed to provide service in more heating systems in the future. Our goal is to become a total energy company.
 
In closing, I need to point out that there is one error in the article. The paragraph located in the middle of the story that starts, “In addition to heating oil, Crowley Fuel sells six varieties of wood-pellet stoves and repairs them,” is incorrect. We sell one variety of pellet stove, Wolf Steel (Napoleon and Timberwolf models) and six varieties of wood pellets: New England, Purcell, Spruce Point, Okanagan Gold, Okanagan Platinum and Okanagan Douglas Fir.

Bob