RNG NEWS
Landfill gas could be transformed into hydrogen fuel
By Hydrogen Fuel News.
According to a research report that is part of the 248th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, researchers have developed a catalyst that could eventually convert landfill gas into hydrogen fuel, a clean and efficient form of power, which could result in the production of fuel cell energy that would provide green electricity for homes, hospitals, and offices.
Why automakers will build more hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
By Jerry Hirsch, The Los Angeles Times
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles could soon gain ground on electric cars in the race to develop zero-emission cars, according to a new report.
The auto industry is seeing a convergence of factors that make fuel cell cars more viable, according to the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis.
City eyes biogas to fuel vehicles
By Joe Pinchot, The Herald
When Hermitage city officials were forced to upgrade the water pollution control plant, they decided to do it in a way that would save the city money along with benefiting the environment.
The saving money part was to come from cooking sludge and waste food to create a biogas that could be burned to generate electricity.
But, city officials are learning that, with the installation of new equipment, at a comparatively modest expense, they can save much more money.
Construction underway on Missouri anaerobic digestion project
By Roeslein Alternative Energy LLC
Construction is underway in Northern Missouri on an innovative $80 million renewable energy project, developed and constructed by Roeslein Alternative Energy LLC in collaboration with Murphy-Brown of Missouri LLC, the livestock production subsidiary of Smithfield Foods Inc.
Crews are installing impermeable covers on 88 existing lagoons to harvest biogas, also called renewable natural gas (RNG), from MBM hog finishing farms using best in class anaerobic digestion technology developed and installed by RAE. The project is the largest of its kind, utilizing manure from one of the biggest concentrations of finishing hogs in the Midwest to create several hundred million cubic feet of RNG annually for regional distribution.
Loebsack receives top award for leadership on renewable fuels
By Osceola Sentinel Tribune
Congressman Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, announced he has been awarded the 2014 Fueling Growth award from Growth Energy.
This award honors leaders who have fought to increase the use of ethanol biofuels and renewable fuels. Loebsack has been leading the fight in Congress to expand the use of biofuels and pushing back against the proposed 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) obligations announced last year.
Methane from Quebec Landfill to Help Heat Vermont
By Free Press Staff, Burlington Free Press.
Biogas, derived from waste products, was introduced to the distribution system of Vermont Gas on Aug. 1, the company announced Thursday.
It’s the same compound, methane, as the standard product that is piped to Vermont from gas fields in Alberta, but it’s coming from another part of Canada. The new infusion of biogas, which the company calls renewable natural gas, originates in a landfill in Quebec, and is enough to heat 350 average homes. Vermont Gas has about 50,000 customers, about 88 percent of them residential.
A Rare Bipartisan Clean Energy Bill Is Ready for Passage
By Maria Gallucci, InsideClimate News.
Congressional lawmakers from both parties are taking a step to catalyze the nation's clean energy economy: After 32 years of restricting a crucial investment tool to expanding fossil fuels, they're pushing to open it to renewables.
Legislation is moving through both houses to tweak the tax code to let clean energy developers form a master limited partnership, or MLP, a type of publicly traded company structure not subject to corporate taxes.
New Biogas rules in the Renewable Fuel Standards
By: Edward Dodge, Breaking Energy.
The EPA recently announced changes to the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) that improves opportunities for biogas to be utilized as a vehicular fuel by qualifying it as an advanced cellulosic biofuel.
Biogas-derived Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) produced from landfills, municipal waste-water treatment facility digesters, agricultural digesters, and separated MSW digesters all now qualify under the RFS. Additionally, electricity used to power electric vehicles produced from the same sources also qualifies as advanced cellulosic biofuel.
These pathways have the potential to provide notable volumes of cellulosic biofuel eligible for the RFS program and should be a factor in recent discussions to lower RFS fuel volume mandates. Significant volumes of advanced biofuels are already being generated from biogas, and in many cases this same fuel will now qualify for cellulosic RINs. As of 2014 the volumes of starch based (corn) ethanol RINs are capped under the RFS and expanding volumes of fuels are all prescribed to be cellulosic in origin, and can now be met with biomethane.
White House Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions & Biogas Roadmap
By United States Department of Agriculture
In March, the White House released a Climate Action Plan Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions and help provide greater incentives to spur the creation of more cost-effective biogas energy technologies. This included a Biogas Roadmap, a voluntary strategy created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency for the agriculture sector to reduce methane emissions.
The Biogas Opportunities Roadmap builds on progress made to date to identify voluntary actions that can be taken to reduce methane emissions through the use of biogas systems and outlines strategies to overcome barriers limiting further expansion and development of a robust biogas industry in the United States. Biogas is a proven source of energy used in the United States and around the world for decades. As such, biogas systems can and should be an integral part of America's energy strategy moving forward.
EPA Looks to Reduce Methane Emissions from Landfills
By Jeffrey Cappola: JD Supra Business Advisor
As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the EPA is proposing to require certain landfills to capture extra landfill gas in order to decrease methane emissions. The new proposal would require landfills to increase their capture of methane and air toxics emissions by 13% by 2023, which would mean capturing two-thirds of emissions.