RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.In California's Methane-Reduction Crosshairs, Dairy Industry Faces Regulation for the First Time
By Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News.
Despite heavy pushback from the state's livestock producers, California Gov. Jerry Brown last month signed a law aimed at cutting methane emissions from cattle operations, the largest source of heat-trapping methane in the country's biggest dairy-producing state.
More than half of California's methane emissions come from dairy and beef operations, specifically from cow manure and belching, mostly from dairy cows. But the state's powerful dairy industry has successfully blocked methane regulation for the past decade.
Now, as the state works toward meeting the nation's most aggressive greenhouse gas emissions targets, the livestock sector and methane—with its potent atmospheric warming power—will contend with regulation for the first time.
SEAT and Aqualia create biogas-based vehicle fuel from wastewater
By Bioenergy Insight.
Spanish automaker SEAT and water management company Aqualia have joined forces to produce renewable biofuel from wastewater to be used in compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered vehicles.
To kick off the five-year collaboration agreement, both companies have begun performing pilot tests in the wastewater treatment plant located in Jerez de la Frontera in the city of Cádiz.
As part of the joint project, titled Smart Green Gas, SEAT has provided Aqualia with two SEAT Leon TGI vehicles to conduct the necessary testing with the biomethane obtained from wastewater to confirm and verify the entire production chain until the fuel is obtained and used.
Government and Business Leaders Helping Scale Up Renewable Natural Gas as a Powerful Climate Solution are Honored by Energy Vision
Via InvestorIdeas.com.
New York, NY - October 24, 2016 (www.investorideas.com newswire) Leaders in the field of ultra-low carbon renewable natural gas (RNG) gathered at an October 13 awards event hosted by the sustainable energy non-profit Energy Vision, which promotes renewable, low-carbon energy and transportation solutions. The event marked Energy Vision's 10th anniversary.
RNG production and use for transport, electricity generation and heating is scaling up in the United States, with diverse projects coming online across the country. U.S. business and government leaders who are playing a pioneering role in accelerating this process were honored by Energy Vision with awards at the event.
RNG is the lowest carbon fuel available, and a powerful strategy for lowering GHG emissions. It is made from the biogases emitted as organic material in wastewater, agricultural waste, and food and yard waste decomposes. They are captured and refined into an ultra-low-carbon, low-emissions source of energy and transportation fuel. RNG has a fraction of the carbon footprint of diesel, gasoline or other petroleum-based fuels, and even of fossil natural gas. When made from food waste processed in anaerobic digesters and used as vehicle fuel, RNG can be net carbon-negative over its lifecycle.
Washington state proposal tests ability of supporters to rally around a carbon tax
By Zack Coleman.
OCTOBER 24, 2016 WASHINGTON—A debate on whether to tax carbon emissions in Washington State is laying bare divisions on the left about how far to push climate policy.
Perhaps to the surprise of many, a ballot measure to tax carbon is getting a thumbs down from many environmental groups, communities of color, and labor unions.
This opposition comes espite the initiative's appeal as a green issue. Putting a price on carbon dioxide emissions is one of the most basic strategies that’s been touted for years as a way to reduce the buildup of greenhouse gases linked to climate change. The problem: There’s sizable disagreement of what to do with the revenues generated from a carbon fee.
Tapping landfills to generate power is smart, but California's NOx and climate change rules are at odds
By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times.
Tapping methane produced from decaying garbage in landfills to generate electricity was among California’s earliest experiments in renewable energy.
But in order to comply with a new regional rule to cut another pollutant — the one that often leaves Southern California blanketed in a layer of smog — a Riverside County landfill has decided to shut down its generators and will simply flare the methane, sending tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
US election: Trump outlines plan for first 100 days
By BBC News.
Donald Trump, lagging behind Hillary Clinton in polls, has outlined what he would do in his first 100 days were he to become US president.
With 17 days until the election, much of the recent focus has been on controversies linked to his campaign.
But in a speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, he sought to highlight changes he would introduce.
Among them were restrictions on lobbyists and a renegotiation on trade and climate change deals.
States Go Big on Renewables
By Martin Rosenberg, The Energy Times.
State legislatures around the country are dealing with a rising tide of proposed laws to buoy renewable energy deployments.
A total of 1,250 proposed renewable energy laws were considered last year and 185 of them were enacted in 42 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, according to a reportby the National Conference of State Legislatures.
That was up from 150 such laws passed in 2014. The increase comes while Republicans dominate many state legislatures.
Emails: Clinton team mulled stance on RFS; aimed to support advanced biofuels
By John Siciliano, Washington Examiner.
Hillary Clinton's campaign mulled supporting the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuels program before a campaign tour through the corn state of Iowa last year, according to illegally obtained emails posted by the website WikiLeaks.
Senior campaign aides suggested in the April 2015 emails that coming out forcefully against the EPA would put her at odds with the Obama administration but would go "further" than any Democrat or Republican on the issue of EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard. Supporting the repeal of the standard, which requires certain amounts of ethanol and other biofuels be added into gasoline and diesel supplies, would put her at odds with many Midwest corn states and environmental groups that support the program.
"Many environmental groups see the RFS as a critical instrument in driving biodiesel and other advanced biofuels production," said senior campaign adviser Jake Sullivan in asking for feedback from campaign manager and campaign chairman Robby Mook and John Podesta, respectively. "Such a position would be surprising and clearly differentiated from other Democrats, the Obama administration, and a number of likely or announced Republican presidential contenders," Sullivan said.
Climate lessons from the Clinton campaign's hacked emails
By Elana Schor, Politico.
The WikiLeaks emails reveal a Hillary Clinton campaign team fixated on climate change — yet reluctant to make overly sweeping promises about what they’d do about it.
Campaign chairman John Podesta’s hacked inbox offers a veritable road map to the energy policy that Clinton would execute in the White House, as well as clear lessons to the environmental and industry groups that are getting ready to lobby her administration if she wins. And climate change and related issues feature prominently in the approximately 25,000 messages WikiLeaks has released so far from Podesta’s account.
California to spend $363 million to put more clean vehicles in disadvantaged communities
By Central Valley Business Times.
The California Air Resources Board has adopted a revised funding plan for money from the cap-and-trade tax program that could lead to more “clean” vehicles in disadvantaged communities.
Spending will include buying increased numbers of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and buses as well as rebates for low- and zero-emission passenger vehicles.
"The investment of $360 million from our cap-and-trade program for these low-carbon transportation projects will continue to drive the market for new technologies, and put more ultra-clean and zero-emission trucks, buses and cars into the communities throughout California that need them the most," says CARB Chairman Mary Nichols.
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