Sacramento County’s liquefied natural gas trucks will be filling up with the advanced biofuel known as renewable liquefied natural gas (RLNG) at a significant discount with a multi-year contract with Applied LNG.
“We are extremely proud that Sacramento County is diversifying its fleet fuel portfolio with 100% renewable LNG as part of the broader effort to reduce GHG emissions”, said Phil Serna, County Supervisor for District 1 and member of the
California Air Resources Board. “This brings our renewable fuel consumption for our entire fleet to more than 50%.”
“We have 60 vehicles that consume more than a million gallons of LNG fuel a year,” said Keith Leech,
Sacramento County Chief of Fleet Services Division. “Converting to renewable LNG will go a long way in reducing our carbon footprint as well as saving the County money. The County was an early adopter of liquefied natural gas in our refuse trucks (2001) and this contract should save a substantial amount of money for us annually.”
Applied’s renewable LNG is produced by BP Energy from bio-methane extracted from a landfill. This bio-methane is combusted as renewable gas resulting in greenhouse gas releases that are approximately 21 times less potent than methane released directly into the atmosphere. The use of renewable LNG represents the recycling of carbon that is already circulating in the environment, whereas burning fossil LNG represents the release of new carbon emissions that were previously isolated in the earth.
While fossil LNG can reduce vehicle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20–25 percent compared to diesel fuel, renewable LNG reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by 87 percent and overall GHG emissions by 90 percent compared to diesel. According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), renewable LNG has the lowest life-cycle carbon footprint of all carbon-based fuels available for transportation, providing communities with a cleaner-burning fuel which delivers greater fuel stability while simultaneously decreasing the negative pollutants (carbon dioxide, smog-forming nitrates) associated with diesel exhaust that threaten the health of the residents.
“Our ability to produce this LNG from renewable sources of natural gas makes it a compelling choice as one of America’s sustainable energy sources. This embodies the Applied LNG mission to provide cleaner, affordable and domestically produced fuel solutions as an alternative to the more conventional petroleum-based products such as diesel, gasoline or propane,” said Applied LNG President & CEO Ed McKenna.
The race toward carbon free fuel has been championed by CARB and the EPA’s ‘’renewable fuel standard’’ which have both encouraged an increase in the volume of renewable fuels used in transportation. The credits generated from the use of renewable fuels have driven down the fuel costs, making renewable energy sources often a cheaper alternative to fossil and higher carbon-based fuels.
