RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.California Renewable Natural Gas Vehicle Fuel Achieves First-Ever Carbon Negative Milestone
November 21, 2020 - Just released Q2 2020 data from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has confirmed that the energy weighted carbon intensity (CI) value of California’s renewable compressed natural gas in the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program was below zero—at -0.85 gCO2e/MJ. This is the first time in the history of the LCFS program that any low carbon fuel portfolio has achieved a carbon negative status in any three-month reporting period of the LCFS program.
“Given the large and growing volume of heavy-duty natural gas vehicles already hard at work on California’s roads, this is an extremely significant milestone,” said Todd Campbell, chair of the California Natural Gas Vehicle Partnership (CNGVP) and vice president of public policy and regulatory affairs, Clean Energy. “Both the short- and long-term climate benefits of this achievement are extremely significant.
By ACTNews
Negative Impact of RNG Trucks a Positive For Environment
November 20, 2020 - This year the months of shutdown factories and closed businesses, along with fewer vehicles on the roads, have helped decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. to their lowest since 1983, according to BloombergNEF research.
Overall, the GHG output is 9.2% lower than 2019. This was largely driven by the declined activity in the transportation sector, the data showed. Specifically, the sector dropped by nearly 15% year-over-year, or -265 MtCO2e (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent).
By John Hitch, FleetOwner
Plotting Future, U.S. biofuel Industry Seeks Federal Clean Fuel Program from Biden
November 20, 2020 - America’s biggest biofuel companies plan to ask President-elect Joe Biden to impose a nationwide standard to reduce carbon emissions from transport fuels, according to five sources familiar with the matter, and hope to preserve a role for products like ethanol amid the fight against climate change.
The planned push from the biofuel industry reflects its increasing concern about the future as Biden prepares measures to slash emissions that could upend traditional energy markets, and as the federal regulation that has underpinned growth in the biofuel market for more than a decade - the Renewable Fuel Standard - nears expiry in its current form.
By Stephanie Kelly, Jarrett Renshaw, REUTERS
Minnesota Approves CenterPoint Energy Revised Plan for RNG
November 24, 2020 - After rejecting an initial proposal by CenterPoint Energy to include renewable natural gas (RNG) service offerings, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved a revised plan to allow RNG producers to connect with the utility’s system.
The PUC included several conditions in the approval, including a fee for RNG producers that was endorsed by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, a local sourcing requirement for RNG supplies and limitations on the type of RNG production facilities that can be used. The fee for RNG producers is designed as an exit fee if and when an RNG facility disconnects from the CenterPoint system so that utility customers do not pay for the cost of connections.
By Tom Tiernan
Renewable Natural Gas Now Recognized in LEED Green Building Standards
Low-carbon renewable fuel made from waste is now another option for green building design
November 24, 2020 – Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced the inclusion of renewable natural gas (RNG) in the latest beta version of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system. LEED, a certification program created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings and is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership. RNG is a low-carbon fuel produced from waste that can be used just like traditional natural gas—to fuel trucks and buses, heating and hot water systems in homes and businesses, and for cooking. Now, RNG procurement may contribute to the achievement of points toward LEED certification.
“Renewable natural gas is a clean, low-carbon alternative to traditional natural gas. RNG essentially recycles waste, eliminating greenhouse gas emissions produced by that waste, and putting it to good use,” said Jawaad Malik, vice president, strategy and sustainability, and chief environmental officer for SoCalGas. “RNG is a highly efficient way to decarbonize buildings and allows home and commercial building owners to use a green fuel, which is often the preferred solution.”
SoCalGas is working to make RNG available to fuel the homes of the company’s nearly 22 million customers across Central and Southern California, asking the CPUC to authorize SoCalGas customers the option to purchase RNG and use it as part of their natural gas service. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is expected to rule on whether to approve the service this year. In 2019, SoCalGas announced its vision to be the cleanest gas utility in North America and committed to replacing 5% of its natural gas supplies with RNG by 2022 and 20% of its supplies with RNG by 2030.
Investment in RNG is growing nationally. Oregon recently enacted legislation allowing its natural gas utilities to purchase RNG on behalf it its customers, with the goal of replacing 15% of traditional natural gas with RNG by 2030. Virginia-based Dominion Energy has committed to investing in enough RNG projects to make its gas infrastructure net-zero carbon by 2040. In 20 years, enough RNG could be available in the U.S. to replace about 90% of the nation's current residential natural gas consumption, according to a recent study by ICF. Currently, natural gas utilities in Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Maine and Michigan provide RNG to homeowners.
In California, where SoCalGas operates, organic waste from farms, landfills, and wastewater treatment plants account for about 80% of methane emissions, and in 2016 the state passed a law requiring a 40% reduction of methane emissions from waste sources, with provisions to deliver that energy to customers. This year, California passed legislation that significantly expands the definition of renewable natural gas to include energy from additional forms of organic waste, such as dead trees, agricultural waste and vegetation removed for wildfire mitigation. The new law is expected to increase supplies of RNG and help turn the state’s organic waste problem into an affordable, and renewable energy solution.
Production of RNG from dairies is already accelerating in California. In just the next three and a half years, at least 160 RNG production facilities will be online in California to serve the transportation fuel sector, producing more than 15.8 million therms of carbon-negative RNG every year and replacing about 119 million gallons of diesel fuel. That’s enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 3.4 million tons every year, the equivalent of taking more than 730,000 cars off the road.
Union Protests Over Biomethane Levy
Proposals in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis)’s Consultation on a Green Gas Levy are for this to fall on fuel users. Beis said in the consultation that using the levy to fund the green gas scheme would lead to carbon savings of 21.6m tonnes of CO2 equivalent and boost green jobs by helping the biomethane industry to grow.
There would be a levy on licensed gas suppliers and “we anticipate that suppliers will pass the costs of the levy onto gas bill payers in the domestic and non-domestic sectors,” Beis said.“Given that the benefits of decarbonization through green gas injection will be shared by all users of the gas grid, it is considered appropriate for gas users to fund the next stage of this transition.”
By Mark Smulian, MRW
Munich Airport Receives Innovation Award for Passenger Bus Powered by Biogas
Great recognition for a concept for resource-efficient passenger transportation at Munich Airport. The Association of the German Gas Industry has awarded this year's Innovation Prize in the "Mobility & Transport" category to the pilot test of a passenger bus that is used at the airport and runs on liquid methane. The project has now been honored at a ceremony at the House of Innovation in Berlin. At Munich Airport, "Gas Innovations for the Energy Turnaround" were developed in cooperation with the start-up company CM Fluids from Rohrbach. Together with other partner companies, the award winners have realized a particularly innovative drive concept for the passenger bus and thus successfully implemented "ideas for sustainable and environmentally conscious mobility of the future."
As part of the pilot project at Munich Airport, a passenger bus originally powered by diesel from the airport's vehicle fleet was converted to a climate-friendly drive system using liquid methane and thus made fit for the future. With the patented drive concept "CMF drive" the bus was equipped with a generator-electric drive. The passenger bus is powered by a combustion engine and will in future be fueled with regeneratively produced biogas. The energy generated by the engine is temporarily stored in a buffer battery, which in turn supplies the bus's electric drive axle with electricity. After the successful conversion, the bus will be particularly energy-efficient and even climate-neutral when refueled with biomethane.
By Aviation Pros
Closing Out the Year with Optimism
It’s what I like to call Windtober in Minnesota, that few-week period where the fall chill and lingering warm seem to battle each other, and much of what’s in your yard—for me, my Styrofoam Halloween cemetery—blows away during those gusty days. The pretty colors fade to brown and the trees are stripped of their leaves seemingly overnight—winter is around the corner.
We’re all grateful to be able to warm our homes or businesses at the push of a button. For some, that might involve tapping into a stockpile of wood pellets. Manufacturers have been readying for the season for many months, and despite the uncertainty the year has brought, things are looking good. As industry stakeholders often articulate, there are always unknowns, including heating degree days, market demand and other heating fuel prices. But this year has added another, and that’s the downstream effects of fiber constraints.
By Anna Simet, Biomass Magazine
A Practical Pathway for Our National Renewable Energy Future: Part 2
Reducing carbon output from the American power grid is an essential goal, meriting urgent and committed attention. However, while accelerating the growth of low-carbon technology on the current U.S. grid for decarbonization is laudable (suggesting that all changes could be made within 10 years), it is currently impractical and enormously risky. Part 1 of this four-part series introduced the grid at the edge, how it works, and dealing with risks. Part 2 discusses how to achieve a low-carbon renewable energy power system on the new grid and the dangers of a 10-year timeline.
How to Achieve Low-Carbon Renewable Energy Power System Using New Grid
Achieving the energy goals of a low-carbon renewable energy power system program requires a paradigm shift in the power generation, transmission and distribution (T&D) of America's energy system. This paradigm shift entails augmenting and/or partially replacing the current power system with different methods of producing, transmitting, and delivering energy. Creating a generation system dominated by renewable energy requires significant modifications and additions to current T&D systems. This new generation mix and geographic redistribution needs a new grid approach for interconnection and operation.
By Thomas A. McClimans, T & D World
Microferm Manure Digester Success with Five Under Construction in The Netherlands
The Netherlands will soon have 15 Microferms, of which two-thirds with a total biomethane production of approximately 3.2 million cubic meters (Nm3) per year. The rest produce green electricity and heat with a CHP. The five new Microferms are being built at dairy farms in Blokzijl (Overijssel), Boornbergum (Friesland), Lekkum (Leeuwarden), Ell (Limburg) and Achtmaal (Brabant). The installations produce 40 Nm3 of biomethane per hour from 12,000 to 16,000 tons of manure per year. The annual capacity is 320,000 Nm3 of biomethane that is suitable for distribution via any existing or new (natural) gas network. Thanks to one Microferm, approximately 240 households can heat and cook with the sustainable natural gas substitute all year round.
HoSt works together with the Jumpstart cooperative, an initiative of dairy company Friesland Campina. Within Friesland Campina’s Jumpstart initiative, HoSt is a qualified supplier of the Microferm mono-manure digester with a biomethane system. The Microferms under construction, and the two recently realized Microferms in the Dutch Koudum and Merselo, are Jumpstart projects. This collaboration facilitates the development of profitable manure digestion at dairy farmers for the production of sustainable energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases on the dairy farm and in the sector. In 2018, HoSt signed the first Jumpstart Microferm project. This biogas plant successfully produces sustainable gas in Merselo in the Dutch province Limburg.
By Renewable Energy Magazine
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