Sunny days … and biodiesel … will be sweeping the clouds … and the smog … away as the studio that produces Sesame Street will switch to the green fuel for heat.
The New York Daily News reports Kaufman Astoria Studios just became the greenest studio in town as it switches from traditional heating oil to “Greenheat,” a new blend of petroleum and biodiesel produced by a Brooklyn-based company:
The deal with METRO will provide the Astoria facility – the city’s oldest functioning movie studio – with 80,000 gallons of the new fuel a year, making it the largest commercial user of Greenheat in the city.
“Anytime you can do something and not damage your budget dramatically and be able to burn a cleaner fuel…why wouldn’t I?” said Hal Rosenbluth, president of Kaufman Astoria Studios.
METRO President Gene Pullo said commercial customers would normally use a grade of fuel with a higher sulfur content, which means more pollution. But over the past few months, these customers have expressed a greater interest to go green with their heating fuel.
“We recognized that there would be a greater demand for sustainable fuels,” said Pullo, 56, whose grandmother started METRO in 1942.
The studio will use a 5 percent biodiesel blend made from used cooking oil from restaurants, soybean and canola oils, and algae.