RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.LA Sanitation Districts to Convert Food Waste into RNG for Transport
December 2, 2020 - Dinner scraps, spoiled fruit, and vegetables from supermarkets and restaurants are being processed into renewable vehicle fuel by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts.
The Sanitation Districts have been converting food waste into electricity for over six years, but have now launched a biogas purification system to recycle the waste into renewable vehicle fuel.
“With this new biogas purification system, we now also produce renewable natural gas (RNG) that is used to fuel vehicles like cars, buses, and trucks,” said Robert C Ferrante, chief engineer and general manager for the Sanitation Districts.
By Bioenergy Insight
Is RNG a California-Only Fuel?
December 2, 2020 - There is a growing interest in renewable natural gas by fleets across a range of sectors due to its ability to seamlessly replace conventional natural gas. Sourced from organic waste streams like green waste and livestock manure, RNG is made up of captured methane that would otherwise escape into the environment. This makes a fuel that is locally sourced, plentiful and low carbon.
Due to financial incentives available through state-level, low carbon fuel programs, as well as the national Renewable Fuel Standard program, RNG can be used as a transportation fuel with a total cost of ownership on par with, or cheaper than, diesel. These market-based programs incentivize the production and consumption of low-carbon renewable fuels by rewarding their low-carbon attributes with real monetary value. In these programs, the lower the carbon content of the fuel, the more value the fuel produces in the form of “credits” in low carbon fuel programs or “RINs” in the Renewable Fuel Standard program. This enables fuel suppliers like Trillium to pass on value in the form of cost savings for fleets fueling with RNG.
By ACT News
California Regulators to Vote on State's First Renewable Natural Gas Tariff Pilot for Sempra Utilities
December 2, 2020 - California regulators are set to vote on a proposed three-year renewable natural gas (RNG) tariff pilot program for Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which, if approved, would be the first such tariff in the state.
The pilot would allow the utilities to offer their customers a voluntary tariff through which they could purchase renewable natural gas (RNG) — or biomethane, emitted from agricultural and waste products — as part of their gas service. It would aim to accelerate the use of low-carbon RNG and develop supplies of the gas in California and across the country.
By Kavya Balaraman
Quebec’s Green Economy Plan Addresses RNG, Bioenergy
November 19, 2020 - The government of Quebec on Nov. 16 unveiled its 2030 Plan for a Green Economy. The plan focuses primarily on clean electricity, but also addresses the use of renewable natural gas (RNG) and bioenergy for heating.
The 2030 PGE lays the groundwork for a green economic recovery and reiterates Quebec’s commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 37.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. An initial implementation plan is being introduced for 2021-2026 which, in addition to reducing GHG emissions, aims to stimulate economic recovery and job creation. The plan in part, aims to require a 10 percent share of RNG in the natural gas network by 2030 and a 50 percent increase in bioenergy production by 2030.
By Erin Voegele, BIOMASS
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
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