In the United States (US), Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVAmerica) and Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) have recently announced that 39 percent of all on-road fuel used in natural gas vehicles (NGVs) in the calendar year 2019 was renewable natural gas (RNG). Biomethane motor fuel use has increased 291 percent since 2015, offering significant greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction gains.
Captured above ground from organic material in agricultural, wastewater, landfill, or food waste, RNG produces carbon-neutral and even carbon-negative results when fueling on-road vehicles like short- and long-haul trucks, transit buses, and refuse and recycling collection vehicles.
RNG fuel has the lowest EER-adjusted carbon intensity of any on-road motor fuel, as low as -400 according to California Air Resources Board (CARB), Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Program, Certified Fuel Pathways.
RNG-fueled vehicles are the most immediate and cost-effective heavy-duty option when seeking to combat climate change and clean our air. Respiratory health depends on clean air, and natural gas-fueled vehicles provide a proven, affordable, and easily scalable zero-emission equivalent solution for commercial deployment today, said Dan Gage, President of NGVAmerica.
Over the last five years, the use of RNG as a transportation fuel has increased 291 percent, displacing close to 7.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). NGVAmerica and RNG Coalition report that in 2019 a total of 717 million gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) of natural gas were used as motor fuel. Of that, 277 million GGEs were renewable as per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program reporting.
Renewable Natural Gas supply is growing. With 110 RNG production facilities transforming waste into fuel, and another 100 facilities on the way, we are increasingly able to offer consumers the opportunity to decarbonize with RNG – the cleanest of any fuel available today, said Johannes Escudero, CEO of RNG Coalition.
