Recently in Washington we had some excellent exemplary news on the renewable natural gas front — a perfect example of taking a waste product from the farm (such as animal waste streams, fed to an anaerobic digester to produce biogas). Natural Gas Vehicles for America and the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas announced that 32 percent of all on-road fuel used in natural gas vehicles in calendar year 2018 was renewable natural gas.
Captured above ground from organic material in agricultural, wastewater, landfill or food waste, RNG – or biomethane – produces net carbon-neutral and even net carbon-negative results when fueling on-road vehicles like short- and long-haul trucks, transit buses, and refuse and recycling collection vehicles. RNG fuel in 2018 had an EER-adjusted carbon intensity as low as -303.30 according to the California Air Resources Board. By comparison, California’s electricity grid rated between 25.0 and 38.95.
Over the last five years, RNG use as a transportation fuel has increased 577 percent, displacing over seven million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
“Proven and affordable natural gas vehicle technology is over 90 percent cleaner than federal EPA nitrogen oxide emission standards,” said Dan Gage, President of NGVAmerica. “And when those American-made heavy-duty trucks and buses are fueled with renewable natural gas, they are up to 125 percent cleaner than the cleanest diesel technology in terms of carbon emissions. RNG-fueled vehicles are the most immediate and cost-effective heavy-duty option when seeking to combat climate change.”
“The environmental advantages of using renewable natural gas to replace fossil fuels in on-road transportation have driven substantial growth in development and investment in new RNG production across the U.S.,” said Johannes Escudero, RNG Coalition CEO. “The number of North American RNG production facilities has multiplied more than two-and-a-half times in the past five years to almost 100 today, while RNG fuel use has increased nearly six-fold.”
Details of the report – including graphics – can be accessed at: https://www.ngvamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/RNG-Driving-Down-Emissions.pdf and http://www.rngcoalition.com/infographic.
Leave a Reply