RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.California Seeks Near-Zero Emissions in CNG Trucks
By Richard Nemec, NGI Daily's Gas Price Index.
In California earlier this month, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) board voted to petition the federal government to adopt tougher emission standards for large trucks to help the region meet its clean air goals. Heavy-duty trucks are the largest source of smog-forming emissions in the four-county air district.
"The technology for these reductions is available," said SCAQMD Chairman William Burke."The federal government needs to step up and require near-zero emission standards for all new trucks nationwide."
SCAQMD officials point out that the district has led an effort the past three years to develop near-zero emission CNG engines for refuse-hauling trucks. The 8.9-liter engine, produced by Cummins Westport Inc., recently won certification from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) (see Daily GPI, Oct. 8, 2015).
Study undermines EPA, blames rising methane levels on farming, not fracking
By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times
A newly released international study finds that farming, not fracking, is the likely culprit behind rising global methane levels, undermining the Obama administration’s crackdown on methane from oil-and-gas production in the name of climate change.
The research published Friday in the journal Science came a day after President Obama unveiled a pact aimed at cutting methane emissions from oil-and-gas producers by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025.
Sanders, Clinton, Rubio, and Kasich answer climate debate questions
By The Guardian.
Last week, the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates participated in debates in Florida. A bipartisan group of 21 Florida mayors wrote to the debate moderators to argue it would be “unconscionable for these issues of grave concern for the people of Florida [climate change and sea level rise] to not be addressed.” The moderators of both debates listened, and asked the candidates questions about climate change – including by far the most substantive climate question posed to the Republican candidates thus far.
Pennsylvania shows EPA the way on pending methane policy
By Fred Krupp and Davitt Woodwell, The Hill.
Speaking to a petroleum industry audience in Houston recently, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said, “we can and we must do more to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.” McCarthy has it right. Uncontrolled leaking and venting of natural gas wastes a valuable resource and threatens our climate. Last week, as part of a joint announcement with Canada, the administration said it plans to move forward on a solution.
For a blueprint on solving this problem, EPA should take a look at Pennsylvania, where Gov. Tom Wolf (D) recently proposed comprehensive new methane emissions standards for oil and gas companies in his state.
EIA predicts increased electricity production from renewables
By Erin Voegele, Biomass Magazine.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released the March edition of its Short-Term Energy Outlook, predicting total renewables used in the electric power sector will increase by 8.7 percent this year and 6.5 percent next year. For nonhydropower renewables, the EIA predicts an 11.5 percent growth in 2016 and 9.5 percent in 2017.
When compared to the February STEO, the EIA has dropped its 2015 and 2016 forecasts for wood biomass consumption by 0.2 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. The forecasts for wood biomass power generation capacity has been maintained at approximately 3,066 MW this year and 3,108 MW next year.
The EIA predicts wood biomass will be used to generate 113,000 MWh per day of electricity this year, increasing to 116,000 MWh per day next year. Waste biomass is expected to be used to generate 60,000 MWh per day, falling to 59,000 MWh per day next year.
How will the Clean Power Plan stay affect the utility power mix transition?
By Herman K. Trabish, Utility Dive.
Has the market done for the utility power mix what Congress, the Obama administration, and the Supreme Court couldn’t?
Despite the recent legal roadblock from the nation’s top court to the Obama administration plan to regulate climate change-inducing pollution, executives from one end of the utility industry to the other say they don’t see their plans changing much.
In fact, a new survey of more than 500 utility executives conducted by Utility Dive showed that a large majority support the EPA's Clean Power Plan, which aims to cut U.S. carbon emissions 32% by 2030, and a significant portion want to see it strengthened.
Chester County landfill gas used as alternative to fracking
By Jon Hurdle, NPR State Impact.
The search for an alternative to fracking has led a Philadelphia-based renewable energy supplier to create a system that encourages the use of methane from landfills instead on shale gas.
The Energy Co-op, which supplies a range of renewable energy products to customers in southeastern Pennsylvania, is now offering cash payments the company calls “Renewable Natural Gas Credits” to any operator who captures gas that is naturally generated by landfills, and sells it to commercial customers.
The first project to adopt the cash payment system is Lanchester Landfill on the border of Chester and Lancaster Counties where methane from the decomposition of organic material has been captured over the last decade for sale to some local businesses.
California Energy Commission Awards $1 Million for CNG Engine Project
By NGT News.
The California Energy Commission has awarded the Gas Technology Institute a $1 million grant to develop and demonstrate an advanced natural gas engine to be installed in 18 vehicles, such as delivery trucks and school buses.
The Cummins-Westport Inc. ISB6.7 G natural gas engine meets the 2018 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Heavy-Duty Onboard Diagnostics (HD-OBD) requirements, as well as the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) optional low NOx emissions.
Both CARB and the EPA are requiring all heavy-duty alternative fuel vehicles to run onboard diagnostics (OBD) beginning with the 2018 model year. Since 2013, all heavy-duty diesel vehicles have required OBD, but the OBD requirement for alternative fuel vehicles was pushed back until 2018.
Argentina Completing Law to Boost Consumption of Clean Energy
By Vanessa Dezem, Bloomberg Business.
Argentina is poised to approve the final details of a new law designed to give a boost to renewable energy as President Mauricio Macri steps up his efforts to fight climate change.
The law will impose fines on large users of electricity that don’t get at least 8 percent of their power from renewable sources, starting in 2018, according to Juan Carlos Villalonga, a lawmaker from the governing party Cambiemos.
The legal framework will be completed this week. Once enacted, the government will auction 1 gigawatt-hour of electricity from renewable generators.
How Will the U.S. Curb Methane Pollution?
By Niina Heikkinen, ClimateWire, via Scientific American.
U.S. EPA said yesterday it will for the first time regulate existing sources of methane from the oil and gas industry.
The announcement came as part of a new joint U.S.-Canada pact to cut domestic emissions of the potent greenhouse gas (Greenwire, March 10). Both countries agreed to reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025.
Scientists and environmentalists praised the decision as an important step toward reducing U.S. emissions and meeting America’s pledge toward the global climate accord struck last year in Paris.
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