RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Solano County landfill gas-to-energy project providing clean power to homes
By DTE Energy, via PRNewswire.
Potrero Hills Energy Producers, a partnership between DTE Biomass Energy Inc. and Pacolet Milliken Enterprises, recently started generating electricity from landfill gas.
This cleaner source of electricity comes from a newly constructed renewable energy facility at the Potrero Hills Landfill in Suisun City, Calif.
DTE Biomass Energy, the developer and operator of the project, declared commercial operation of the 8-megawatt facility at the landfill, which is operated by Waste Connections Inc. of The Woodlands, Texas. Gas generated at the landfill will be used to produce renewable energy for Pacific Gas & Electric under a long-term purchase agreement.
Air Quality and Climate Protection Goals Addressed with Renewable Natural Gas Fuel, Technical White Paper Finds
Via EconoTimes.
May 3, 2016 - Gladstein Neandross & Associates (GNA) today released a technical white paper – written on behalf of multiple private and public sector organizations – that explores the need and approaches to start deploying zero-emission and near-zero-emission heavy-duty vehicle technologies on a wide-scale basis in the United States. With approximately 166 million Americans residing in areas with exceedingly poor air quality, and with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) contributing to global climate change, America needs to more aggressively transform on-road HDVs to the lowest emission technologies and fuels available. The White Paper has compared four fuel-technology combinations to address these goals and has concluded that there is only one pathway in highly impactful heavy-duty trucking applications that meets the commercial feasibility and logistics tests to immediately begin this transformation. This is near-zero-emission heavy-duty natural gas vehicles fueled by increasing volumes of ultra-low-GHG renewable natural gas (RNG).
"As progressive corporations and municipalities across America are looking for ways to reduce their environmental footprint, we are seeing increased focus on the transportation sector to address sustainability goals," said Erik Neandross, CEO of Gladstein, Neandross and Associates, co-author of the whitepaper. "This engine-fuel combination provides a phenomenal opportunity for progressive heavy-duty fleet operators to effectively eliminate emissions from their mobile operations."
Why we’re still so incredibly confused about methane’s role in global warming
By Chris Mooney, Washington Post.
It’s perhaps the most contentious issue in U.S. climate change policy right now: How can we deal with emissions of methane, a powerful if short-lived greenhouse gas, which has many sources but appears to be leaking into the air in considerable volumes from U.S. oil and gas operations?
The Obama administration is expected to release methane regulations for new sources of emissions very soon, and the EPA recently revised upwards, considerably, its estimates of how much methane is leaking into the atmosphere from the U.S. energy industry. And yet at the same time, there remains considerable scientific uncertainty and debate over just how much methane the U.S. is emitting and how much that has changed due to the current oil and gas boom — and over what those emissions even mean.
A new study in Nature Climate Change, for instance, gets at why understanding the importance of methane can be such a difficult, confusing affair. In particular, it takes issue with some of the math that has often been used to compare the consequences of emitting methane with the impact of the chief, long-lived global warming gas, carbon dioxide. And it finds that really, we may not even know how important our methane emissions are in the first place until we also know how quickly we’re able to get carbon dioxide under control.
Leakage study assessment delays ARB cap-and-trade amendments
By ICIS.
Cap-and-trade amendments will be delayed in order for the state to properly assess an upcoming leakage study, an Air Resources Board (ARB) official told ICIS.
The ARB, the cap-and-trade regulator, has been working to make changes to its programme to formulate a post-2020 plan while also developing a compliance plan for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan.
The ARB is looking at a host of changes to the cap-and-trade programme, including post-2020 caps, further cost-containment mechanisms and future offset rules.
Fred Meyer Calls for Up to 500,000 Gallons of RNG
By Heavy Duty Trucking.
Fred Meyer Stores, a division of The Kroger Co., announced an agreement with Clean Energy calling for up to 500,000 gallons of Redeem renewable natural gas (RNG) fuel for its fleet of 40 LNG trucks based out of its Clackamas, Ore., distribution center.
Fred Meyer is the first company in the State of Oregon to take advantage of the Oregon Clean Fuel Program, which calls for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the use of cleaner fuels such as natural gas and renewable natural gas, according to Clean Energy. By fueling with Redeem, Fred Meyer is expected to reduce their GHG emissions by 5,328 metric tons annually.
Hawaii Gas Signs with Clean Energy Fuels
By Heavy Duty Trucking.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp., will provide liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Hawaii Gas, the State of Hawaii’s only franchised gas utility. The recently announced contract and agreement are consistent with the state’s intent to reduce its reliance on imported crude oil, using a cleaner and more economical fuel.
The utility issued its initial request for proposal for the renewable fuel in January of this year.
How One Massachusetts Grocer is Converting Food Waste to Energy
By Megan Greenwalt, Waste360.
A Quincy, Mass.-based grocery store is using anaerobic digestion to convert food waste into energy. Stop & Shop has partnered with a local technology company to open an anaerobic digestion facility in the state.
Officially launched on April 15, the facility converts the food waste from all 212 Stop & Shop New England stores to generate energy used to power its 1.1 million-sq.-ft. Freetown (Mass.) Distribution Center. Stop & Shop worked with Divert Inc. to construct the plant.
“It recreates the natural process of anaerobic digestion, a process in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material, to convert the carbon in edible food into a natural biogas, a clean, renewable and local energy source that can be used to generate electricity,” says Philip Tracey, Stop & Shop manager of public relations. “The process is carried out in an enclosed, oxygen-free environment, which means it generates no odors.”
58 Groups Call for NY State Climate and Clean Energy Goals
By Mark Woodson, Empire State News.
As nine states, including New York, evaluate major changes to strengthen the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program – the nation’s first cap on carbon pollution from power plants – 58 environmental, public health and clean energy organizations and businesses are calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to push for RGGI reforms that will put Northeastern states on a trajectory to cut power plant pollution by more than half through 2030. The organizations delivered a letter to the Governor this week, praising his clean energy and climate leadership and urging him to take the next step forward by advocating for an extension of RGGI cap reductions through 2030 that will require an annual five percent reduction in carbon pollution from power plants.
“Over the last year, Governor Cuomo set admirable goals to shift New York toward clean energy and help prevent the worst impacts of global warming,” said Heather Leibowitz, Director for Environment New York. “Now our governor has the opportunity to put a strong plan into action to actually achieve those goals by strengthening RGGI.”
Duke Energy Raises Clean Energy Goal 33%
By Jessica Lyons Hardcastle, Environmental Leader.
Duke Energy says it expects to own or purchase 8,000 megawatts of wind, solar and biomass capacity by 2020 — a 33 percent jump from the old goal of 6,000 megawatts established in 2013.
The largest utility in the US sets this new goal in its latest sustainability report.
At the end of 2015, the company owned or purchased nearly 4,400 megawatts of wind, solar and biomass: 49 percent wind, 39 percent solar and 12 percent biomass.
Biomass Magazine Looking For Landfill Gas, Biogas Projects
By Anna Simet, Biomass Magazine.
For the next several months, Biomass Magazine plans to run a project spotlight series in the biogas/landfill gas section of the print edition.
For the next several months, Biomass Magazine plans to run a project spotlight series in the biogas/landfill gas section of the print edition. We’re striving to extend our reach and coverage of the sector, so if that’s you, now is the time to reach out to me and let me know about your project. Don’t own or operate it, but played (or are playing) a role in it? Send me an email or give me a call.
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