RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Amazon Places Massive Order for Gas-Fuel Trucks
Online retail giant Amazon is reported to have ordered about 700 Class 6 and Class 8 gas-fuel trucks to help reduce the environmental impact of its logistics operations.
Engines for the trucks will be supplied by Cummins. The vehicles will also use fuel systems delivered by Vancouver-based Westport Fuel Systems (WFS). An announcement covering the dissolution of a former joint-venture between the companies was announced on 7 February, where Cummins would become sole business owner.
Upcycling Waste into Valuable Products
With the world’s population already growing rapidly to over 8 billion, the world faces two important challenges in the near future: waste restoration and global warming.
My research group at Florida Institute of Technology applies the fundamentals of chemical engineering to the concept of recovering energy and value-added products from unwanted moist and dry waste. This is a mutually beneficial situation for the community, industry and environment.
A Way Out of the EU Gas Price Crisis with Biomethane
Today, the natural gas price stands at €80, compared to €18 a year ago. Prices for next winter are expected to remain at a similarly high level, according to current estimations. While governments are struggling to reduce the impact of soaring energy prices on citizens’ energy bills, they have a solution within reach: scaling up the production of sustainable biomethane.
The rapid scale up of biomethane across Europe could provide at least 34 bcm of renewable gas by 2030 if underpinned by a supportive legislative framework. This represents approximately 10% of total EU gas demand by 2030. According to the EBA, if the growth trend continues, by 2050 the biomethane industry could cover 30-40% of the EU gas demand.
U.S. Is Exporting Every Molecule of LNG Possible
Tankers were docked or loading at all seven U.S. liquefied natural gas export terminals for the first time Saturday, marking a small piece of industry history and setting up record flows to the plants amid high prices and tensions in Europe.
The Greek-flagged tanker Yiannis is docked at Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana, which remains under construction but has been given permission by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to send out cargoes during the export terminal’s startup process. The Saturday afternoon arrival of LNGships Manhattan at Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island LNG plant in Georgia, marked loadings at the other six U.S. LNG export terminals.
Although the tankers are expected to be docked at the same time for less than a day, demand from their loadings helped set a record 13.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas flows to U.S. LNG export terminals on Saturday.
SoCalGas Proposes Nation's Largest Green Hydrogen Infrastructure System
Southern California Gas Co. will seek to develop the nation's largest green hydrogen infrastructure system, a key part of a plan to establish a green hydrogen hub in the Los Angeles area.
The proposed Angeles Link would deliver volumes of green hydrogen equal to nearly 25% of the natural gas currently distributed by SoCalGas, the nation's largest gas utility by customer count. The Sempra subsidiary said the project could significantly reduce demand for natural gas, diesel and other fossil fuels across the Los Angeles Basin.
Net Zero Energy? Here's a Plant That Took Things Even Farther
When the state of Massachusetts prohibited the landfilling of organic material, the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District made plans to use food waste to boost biogas production from its anaerobic digesters.
The plan has worked so well that the wastewater treatment plant is a net producer of electricity. The district, in North Andover, added a fourth digester, installed a combined heat and power system, and built capacity to accept processed food waste for co-digestion. The project won an Energy Management Achievement award in 2020 from the New England Water Environment Association.
Harvest and NOVUS Announce Formation of MaderaGas I LLC
Harvest Midstream announced the formation of MaderaGas I LLC in partnership with NOVUS Wood Group. The newly formed company will look to develop a greenfield facility near Houston to convert wood waste to renewable natural gas (RNG) on a commercial scale.
"The first plant could have the capacity to deliver meaningful quantities of renewable natural gas to market," MaderaGas CEO Bill Winters said. "Combining forces with a local experienced midstream partner like Harvest gives MaderaGas the capacity to develop not only this facility, but also future renewable opportunities as the industry grows. It is exciting to be on the leading edge of energy transition."
As currently planned, the MaderaGas plant will be comprised of 5 production trains, each of which will process 100,000 tons of wood waste annually into 1Bcf of renewable natural gas per year, yielding a total of 5Bcf of gas annually if fully developed. NOVUS is also in the process of finalizing definitive agreements for RNG offtake and CO2 capture and sequestration.
EPA Draft Report Shows Significant Drop in US Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2020
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. have decreased 7.4 percent from 1990 to 2020, according to a new draft report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The draft report, the EPA’s annual greenhouse gas inventory, notes that the COVID pandemic drove a record 9.1 percent decrease in U.S. emissions from 2019 to 2020 alone.
Other findings from the draft report include:
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) accounted for 78.8 percent of all U.S. GHG emissions in 2020. Total CO2 emissions decreased 8.1 percent from 1990 to 2020.
Methane (CH4) accounted for 10.9 percent of all U.S. GHG emissions in 2020. Total methane emissions decreased 16.6 percent from 1990 to 2020.
EDL Signs Agreement for Fourth Renewable Natural Gas Project in the United States
Global sustainable energy producer EDL has signed agreements with US gas company Pennant Midstream, kicking off EDL’s fourth investment in the USA’s renewable natural gas (RNG) sector since 2019.
Under the agreement, Pennant will transport the RNG from the Carbon Limestone Landfill near the city of Youngstown, Ohio, through its existing system and redeliver the gas to EDL’s downstream markets. The landfill gas, a by-product of naturally decomposing materials in the Carbon Limestone Landfill, will be processed and conditioned by what will be EDL’s largest North American RNG facility to meet Pennant’s gas quality requirements.
What is the Clean Fuel Standard Act?
A clean fuel standard is a cost-effective way to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation fuel and advance New Mexico’s climate goals. The Environmental Protection Division Director Sandra Ely, talked more about the Clean Fuel Standard Act, what it is and why it’s so beneficial.
The Clean Fuel Standard Act simply reduces the carbon footprint of fuel that we use in our vehicles. Companies will be required to reduce the carbon intensity of their fuel over time.
In New Mexico, Ely says the state is making every effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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