Dive Brief:
- Sacramento County, CA is switching 60 collection vehicles to run on renewable liquid natural gas (LNG), as reported by the Sacramento Business Journal.
- The fuel will be supplied by Applied LNG through a multi-year contract and is produced by BP Energy using methane from a landfill. Sacramento County's fleet uses more than 1 million gallons of fuel per year.
- Renewable LNG is estimated to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 87% and overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 90% as compared to diesel fuel. Standard LNG reduces GHG emissions by 20-25%.
Dive Insight:
The vehicles had been running on standard LNG since 2001. County officials say this new fuel will be cheaper and provide greater environmental benefits.
"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 and member of the California Air Resources Board in a statement. "This brings our renewable fuel consumption for our entire fleet to more than 50%."
State renewable energy credits have helped make the fuel more affordable in recent years and this switch will help the county do more to meet federal emissions reduction goals. Many other collection fleets have begun moving away from diesel through the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) and other alternative fuels. Electric vehicles are also in the works with a promising prototype in development from Mack Trucks and plans for a whole fleet of electric sanitation vehicles from BYD Company Ltd. coming out soon in Beijing.
