RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Renewable Natural Gas Projects in Arizona Pave the Way for a Sustainable Energy Future
Southwest Gas is working to bring a clean, renewable source of energy to market from unconventional origins you might not think of when warming homes, washing or drying clothes, or cooking a great meal. Meet renewable natural gas (RNG).
RNG is a renewable source of energy like wind and solar power that is harvested from landfills, dairy farms and waste water treatment facilities. Methane is naturally emitted when organic products break down at these facilities; this methane either rises to the atmosphere or is flared off at the site. RNG is produced when this methane is captured and processed to meet pipeline quality standards. As such, RNG is considered to be carbon-neutral.* RNG can be delivered through existing natural gas pipelines for use in businesses and homes. Since RNG is compatible with existing natural gas appliances, industrial equipment and compressed natural gas vehicles, end-users do not need to change their natural gas equipment to reap the environmental benefits of RNG. The innovative use of this energy can help vehicle fleet operators, residents, businesses, cities, towns or communities meet their emission-reduction goals. In particular, a vehicle fleet powered by compressed renewable natural gas can be cleaner than a vehicle powered by electricity produced by traditional power generation fuels.
Nine Reasons Clean Fleet Adoption Is Accelerating
Last summer, Katie Fehrenbacher wrote about the "State of Sustainable Fleets" report put out by the research team at Gladstein, Neandross and Associates (GNA). A few weeks ago GNA updated its report, with a few significant developments over the last nine months that led the authors to proclaim 2020 "a landmark year for the clean fleet industry."
Consistent with the 2020 report, the data covers the use and development of four clean vehicle technologies: drivetrains powered with propane; compressed natural gas; batteries; and hydrogen fuel cells. The report also spans across sectors — from municipal to urban delivery to long-haul — and includes data related to fleets that have never used one of the four clean vehicle drivetrains. The authors said that perspective helped them learn about perceived or actual barriers to clean fleet technology adoption.
Renewable Natural Gas Set For Disruptive Growth
Imagine if you will a renewable source of energy without constraints of time of day or weather. A renewable source of energy whose surface of potential is just now being scratched. Perhaps most importantly in today’s political environment, a source of renewable energy that does not rely on supply chains dominated by adversarial nations as the source of its feedstock, but America’s family farms instead.
That is the line of business in which Vanguard Renewables and its new CEO, Joel Gay, are engaged. It is a business focused on converting manure and food waste into renewable natural gas (RNG). What remains following the production of RNG is then turned into organic fertilizer, returning the nutrients from the manure and food waste produced back to the soil to be recycled again and diverting tons of waste that would have otherwise gone into landfills or incinerators.
California Dairy’s Journey Toward Climate Neutrality
On the heels of the Leaders on Climate Summit in April, all eyes are on the U.S. to meet its newly set target to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. For the California dairy industry, however, this has been an ongoing objective for some time.
The will, strategy and technology have fallen into place, enabling California dairies to have this target well in sight as they strive for greater objectives. This includes reaching "climate neutrality" — when an industry has no net global warming impact — a key milestone on the path to reaching the U.S. Dairy goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Manure From Three South Dakota Dairies Will Be Converted Into Natural Gas
A San Fransisco-based company is working with three South Dakota dairies on a project that will convert manure from cows into renewable natural gas.
“It’s pretty cool what we’re up to,” said Brightmark Founder and CEO Bob Powell. “We’re really able to help a lot of our farming communities because the projects that we partner with them on actually provide additional farm economics in addition to contributing to a sustainable future. They’re definitely win-win types of projects.”
The Athena Project is located on Boadwine Farms, Pioneer Dairy and Mooody County Dairy in Minnehaha County. Powell said the project is Brightmark’s first in South Dakota and the first project by anyone in the state that will convert manure to natural gas.
AgLand Renewables Receives California Competes Tax Credit
AgLand Renewables LLC (AgLand), the California subsidiary of Maryland-based CleanBay Renewables Inc., has been selected by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development to receive $1.7 million in tax credit from the highly competitive California Competes Tax Credit program. With this support from the Governor’s office, AgLand can begin development of multiple bioconversion facilities in California that will directly support the state’s economic and environmental goals.
Renewable Natural Gas Is Good Environmental and Economic Policy For NY
The time for talk is over. It’s time to take real action on climate change.
To its credit, New York is doing its part, establishing some of the country’s most aggressive emissions reduction goals. But, as New York’s Climate Action Council works to create policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is critical that state leaders use every tool available to them now, including renewable natural gas (RNG), to fully transition to a decarbonized economy by 2050.
RNG is clean energy that is created by capturing methane emissions from waste – emissions that would otherwise seep into the atmosphere – and harnessing them to create energy that can be used in place of conventional natural gas.
Waga Secures Second Landfill Gas-to-RNG Contract in Quebec
Waga Energy has secured a contract with Brome-Missiquoi Intermunicipal Waste Management Board to produce biomethane (renewable natural gas) at a landfill in Québec.
This is the second contract in Canada for Waga Energy, which was selected earlier this year by Enercycle to equip the Saint-Étienne-des-Grès landfill.
Waga Energy will build a WAGABOX® purification unit on-site at Cowansville landfill to transform the gas into biomethane, which will then be injected directly into Énergir’s gas grid. Until now, the gas produced by the landfill waste was flared to prevent direct emissions of methane into the atmosphere. The WAGABOX unit in Cowansville will be commissioned at the start of 2023.
Power Florida Forward: Dairy Farmers Support Renewable Natural Gas
As a dairy farmer, my goal is to provide Florida families and children with a delicious, wholesome and fresh milk supply to maintain a happy, healthy lifestyle.
There are only 70 dairy farms throughout the state that Florida families depend on for high-quality milk. The dairy industry is a major economic engine of the state, and many thousands of Florida citizens are employed directly and indirectly because of dairy.
Urban development, price volatility and government regulations challenge the long-term sustainability of this industry. That’s why we’re looking for innovative ways to tackle the challenges we face and diversify our revenue stream. Renewable natural gas is a promising new opportunity that can strengthen the sustainability of dairy farms like mine, while reducing waste and generating renewable energy supply.
Peoples Gas and Alliance Dairies Partnering to Bring Florida Renewable Natural Gas
Peoples Gas, Florida's largest natural gas distribution utility, has reached an agreement with Alliance Dairies to build, own and operate a renewable natural gas (RNG) facility on the dairy’s property in Trenton near Gainesville. The facility is expected to produce 105,000 MMBtu of RNG, enough to serve about 4,400 homes annually.
The Alliance RNG facility will capture waste from approximately 6,500 cows and clean it to pipeline-quality natural gas that can be safely used by any natural gas appliance or other natural gas application.
“With this renewable natural gas facility, Peoples Gas will be a leader in Florida’s clean energy future,” said Timothy O’Connor, vice president, Sustainability for Peoples Gas. In 2017, Peoples Gas was the first utility to receive approval from the Florida Public Service Commission to pursue renewable natural gas service in the state, and among the first in the nation. This project is the next step in bringing RNG to Florida.
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