Heating oil, most popular in the Northeast, will be the most expensive fuel with costs up 22 percent. Propane, natural gas and electricity all trail behind in expenses.

Are you already thinking of a way to bypass these costs? If so, you're not alone.

Some New Yorkers are blending heating oil with biodiesel to heat potentially thousands of buildings this winter. And next year the city plans to use a 5 percent biodiesel blend to heat city-owned buildings. By 2012, the city wants all its buildings to use a 20 percent blend. Biodiesel was cheaper for New Yorkers thanks to a bioheat tax credit, but the legislation that would have extended the credit for four years was just vetoed - although many believe this is just a temporary loss.

Depending on various factors affecting cost and access to biodiesel, using the alternative fuel may be a break on their budgets and also on their lungs. A shift to biodiesel, often made from soybeans or waste restaurant cooking oil, could cut emissions of sulfur oxide and carbon dioxide.

However, it's not cheaper for everyone. Eco-conscious Seattleites use it for heat, although the cost of the fuel is higher because sources of biodiesel, such as soybeans and rapeseed, are not yet grown in the state. If it's grown a bit closer to home, perhaps more will turn to it to heat their homes.

Naturally, this shift is welcome news to those in the commercial biodiesel industry. The nation's fifth largest biodiesel plant opened this week in Erie, PA. It plans to produce pure biodiesel by early 2008, and boasts that it may be the only U.S. plant to refine vegetable oil, recycled grease and animal fats – reducing the agricultural burden of growing fuel such as soybeans. Luckily for people in the Northeast, the plant targets home heating oil blenders, as well as petroleum diesel and exports to Europe.

Check out the National Biodiesel Board to find other companies offering heating oil blended with biodiesel.