The alternative power choice that has made the deepest inroads into trucking and will remain a key player for years to come is natural gas. Whether in its more popular compressed (CNG) or liquefied (LNG) form, natural gas is proving to have staying power, even in the face of reasonably low and fairly steady diesel fuel prices.

Of course, natural gas did not roll onto the scene aimed at being a cheaper-than-diesel fuel choice. Rather, it was adopted as a practical alternative for all types of truck fleets that need to cut tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases, either to comply with environmental regulations or to meet corporate and/or customer sustainability requirements.

RNG Is the Fast Track to Cleaner Air in California

Contributor:

by Thomas Lawson

May 10, 2018

California policy makers—at the local and state level—are increasingly under pressure to make electric vehicles the only clean transportation option for every use. That would be a mistake: it would close the door to other alternatives that meet or exceed EVs’ emissions benefits and leave some types of fleets with dirty diesel as their only cost-effective option for near-term purchases.

n California, upwards of 95 percent of trucks run on diesel. These and other heavy-duty vehicles produce a disproportionate share of emissions—20 percent of transportation-related greenhouse gases in the U.S., about 50 percent of smog-forming emissions, and more than two-thirds of toxic diesel particulate pollution. The need to address this situation is urgent: people who live around ports and major trucking routes are literally dying from air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions were an emergency yesterday.

From the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

November 30, 2018 

Washington, DC - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposed 2019 Renewable Fuel Volume Obligations (RVO) under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). 

“We appreciate that the EPA’s 418 million gallon cellulosic biofuel volume requirement for 2019 reflects continued growth in the renewable natural gas industry. It provides a policy framework that will lead RNG stakeholders to invest in and build new RNG production facilities just as the Renewable Fuel Standard is designed to do,” said Johannes Escudero, CEO of the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition). 

The RNG industry produces 95% of the fuel used to meet the RFS program’s cellulosic biofuel requirement. The industry’s cellulosic biofuel production has increased significantly in recent years. October 2014 RNG production was 6.6 million gallons; October 2018 RNG production was 28.5 million gallons. An additional 55 RNG production facilities are under construction or development. 

“The growth in production of renewable natural gas and the completion of nearly 50 new production facilities from coast to coast since 2014 is proof positive that the RFS is working as intended for cellulosic and advanced biofuels,” said Escudero.