RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Department of Environment Helps Convert Motor Fleets to Cleaner Fuels
The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has approved $2.1 million in funding for five private businesses to convert their motor fleets to cleaner alternative fuels as part of the settlement of the Volkswagen (VW) “defeat devices” case. Existing diesel powered vehicles will be replaced with new vehicles that use clean alternative fuels like electricity, propane and compressed natural gas (CNG).
In addition to the funds from the VW settlement, the businesses will spend about $5.2 million of their own money on the new vehicles for a total project cost of $7.3 million. The projects will improve air quality and provide health benefits through reduced vehicle emissions. Use of the cleaner vehicles will cut greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and also eliminate an estimated 60 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) that cause smog pollution. In addition to NOx reductions, the program will achieve more than 1,600 tons in reductions of carbon dioxide.
By Maryland Gov
Shell Secures Biogas-to-RNG Supply as Part Low-carbon Shift
The gas will be supplied to Europe’s pipeline network from July 1. The size and financial details of the contract were not disclosed.
In April, Shell laid out the oil and gas sector’s most extensive strategy yet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
Biogas, produced from methanisation of agricultural and other biological waste, could play a key role in Europe’s ambitions to become a low-carbon society.
By Reuters
Oregon Rulemaking Complete, Giving Green Light for New Energy Source
Rulemaking for Senate Bill 98 (SB 98) is now complete, giving NW Natural a clear path to acquire renewable natural gas on behalf of customers, and forging the way for this newest renewable resource to be an increasing part of the state’s energy supply.
NW Natural, a subsidiary of NW Natural Holding Company (NYSE: NWN), worked collaboratively with legislators and renewable natural gas stakeholders to create SB 98, a groundbreaking bill that was signed into law by Oregon Governor Kate Brown last year. Since then, the Public Utility Commission of Oregon (OPUC), consumer groups and natural gas utilities have been working through a rulemaking process, so natural gas utilities can begin procuring renewable natural gas under the legislation.
By Yahoo News
RNG Coalition Welcomes National Debate on the Viability of RNG
Earthjustice and Sierra Club on July 14 issued a report calling renewable natural gas (RNG) “too costly” and “environmentally risky” to replace current natural gas demand in buildings. The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas said it welcomes a national debate on the viability of RNG.
In the report, titled “Rhetoric vs. Reality: The Myth of ‘Renewable Natural Gas’ for Building Decarbonization,” Earthjustice and Sierra Club claim that fossil gas alternatives (FGAs), including RNG, could only replace a small portion of natural gas, are up to 17 times more expensive than natural gas, have a mixed environmental record, and perpetuate the health impacts of combustion. Rather than biobased fuels like RNG, the report calls for building electrification.
By Erin Voegele, Biomass Magazine
Berkshire Hathaway Acquires Dominion Energy's Pipeline Assets
“Pigs are extremely efficient,” says Kraig Westerbeek, who oversees renewable energy production for Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork producer. For what farmers put into them, they get a lot out. “They eat 2.4 pounds of feed per pound of gain,” he says. “And they produce more gas per pound of live weight.”
Westerbeek is talking about greenhouse gases emitted by the millions of pigs his industrial farms produce each year. Inside his giant barns, manure and urine ooze through holes in a concrete floor before getting piped to open-air ponds called lagoons—some the size of four football fields. In these lakes of livestock waste naturally occurring bacteria—called methanogens—continue to feed and fart out more gas. All this methane ends up in the atmosphere, and that is bad news for the planet. Pound for pound, methane packs 25 times the greenhouse effect as the standard environmental villain, carbon dioxide. To make matters worse, it’s long been standard practice for farmers to spray the odoriferous lagoon waste on croplands as rich fertilizer—subjecting Smithfield and its former hog-producing subsidiary, Murphy-Brown, to environmental litigation and scathing publicity as local communities cope with the stench and health risks.
By Forbes
Hyliion’s Announces New Electric Hypertruck Fueled By RNG
Hyliion has debuted an electric powertrain in a Class 8 tractor that the company says features a range of more than 1,300 miles and doesn’t require charging infrastructure thanks to an onboard generator.
The Texas-based company is powering the electric motors of its Hypertruck Electric Range Extender (ERX) with a battery pack charged by an onboard generator that’s powered by either natural gas or carbon-cutting renewable natural gas (RNG), both of which already have a well-developed infrastructure network.
By CCJ Digital
Loci Controls Announces New Landfill Gas to Energy Projects
Peter Quigley, chairman and CEO of Loci Controls, Inc. responding to the release of a proposed new methodology from the American Carbon Registry (ACR), said today that the opportunity to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and generate voluntary carbon credits through Loci’s Automated Landfill Gas Collection services will create a significant financial benefit for a large number of landfills. In its proposal titled Methodology for the Quantification Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions and Removals from Landfill Gas Destruction and Beneficial Use Projects, the ACR noted that use of an automated gas collection system has “the potential to expand the addressable market, and accelerate adoption for a large number of landfills” due to the opportunity to generate voluntary carbon offsets. Formal approval of the methodology is expected by year-end after a public comment period followed by a scientific peer review process.
“The ACR Methodology is a very important step in creating value related to Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction through the use of Loci’s automated gas collection technology to increase landfill gas collection system efficiency,” commented Quigley. “In addition to the benefits of increased revenue, increased productivity, and reduced ESG risks, it will be possible in the near future to generate new sources of revenue for landfill gas to energy projects.”
By Loci Controls
Greenlane Renewables Signs System Supply Contract with Grupo Cocal of Brazil
Greenlane Renewables Inc. (“Greenlane”) (TSXV: GRN / FSE: 52G) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Greenlane Biogas North America Ltd., has signed a $2.4 million (US$1.8 million) contract with Grupo Cocal (“Cocal”), a Brazilian sugar mill operator that refines sugar and produces ethanol biofuel from sugarcane. Greenlane will supply its Pressure Swing Adsorption (“PSA”) biogas upgrading system for this first-of-its-kind renewable natural gas (“RNG”) project.
The Greenlane supplied system will process and upgrade biogas created from the anaerobic decomposition of byproducts from Cocal’s sugar refining and ethanol production process into clean RNG. The RNG will be used, in part, to displace diesel fuel in Cocal’s commercial operations and vehicle fleet and provide a clean low-carbon supply of RNG for the local gas grid. This is expected to be the first commercial-scale pipeline injection RNG project in the Brazilian sugar cane industry.
By Business Wire
Chesapeake Utilities, CleanBay Renewables Announce RNG Partnership, Increase Sustainability in Delmarva Community
Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE: CPK) today announced a new partnership with CleanBay Renewables Inc. (CleanBay), an enviro-tech company focused on the production of sustainable renewable natural gas, which will generate greenhouse gas credits associated with vehicular usage, and provide Chesapeake Utilities the opportunity to bring additional renewable natural gas to its Delmarva operations. Under the arrangement, Chesapeake Utilities Corporation will transport the renewable natural gas produced at CleanBay's planned Westover, Maryland bio-refinery, to Chesapeake Utilities' natural gas infrastructure in the Delmarva region.
The renewable natural gas generated at CleanBay's Westover facility will reach the market through the joint effort of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation and its subsidiaries, Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company (ESNG) and Marlin Gas Services. Using a virtual pipeline concept, Marlin Gas will transport renewable natural gas from the CleanBay facility to Eastern Shore Natural Gas, Chesapeake Utilities Corporation's interstate infrastructure pipeline, where it will be distributed to end use customers, including low-carbon, renewable vehicle fuel customers.
By PR Newswire
OP-ED: From Waste to Fuel - The Prospects for RNG in the U.S.
While hydrogen initiatives have been grabbing headlines thanks to large-scale national plans and projects at corporate level, renewable natural gas (RNG) also deserves attention as an emerging tool for decarbonization.
RNG comes from capturing biogas from areas like landfills and farms and then cleaning and upgrading that gas to remove excess carbon dioxide to then turn it into biomethane, which is more commonly referred to as RNG. This process is needed to bring the methane portion of biogas to a level that can then be blended with conventional natural gas on existing pipeline infrastructure, to avoid diminishing the quality or heat content of the pipeline.
By S&P Global
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