We commend the President for recognizing the immediate benefit of using a clean, domestic fuel such as natural gas: “A great place to start is natural gas,” stated Obama.

Based on his remarks, the President plans to support tax incentives for companies to buy more natural gas vehicles, specifically mentioning city bus fleets and the federal fleet. He also mentioned job creation in the context of using a domestic fuel and building infrastructure (it is an election year). We can only hope this support turns into legislation!

So, we’re a little biased – since the biomethane (natural gas from renewable sources) FirmGreen produces is a “drop in” fuel for a natural gas infrastructure. Obama said his administration would continue to work with the private sector to develop five natural gas corridors along major highway routes.

Click here for the White House PR.

Visit FirmGreen’s website to find out how using biomethane recovered from wasted resources can benefit your community.

Want to watch the speech? It’s here on C-Span:

A new scientific analysis published today in Science, urges a focus on methane and soot (black carbon) emission reduction to deliver the quickest and greatest range of benefits – ranging from improved human health to increased crop yields.

The major reason for focusing on reduction of these particular greenhouse gases (GHGs) is that methane and soot have a significantly stronger greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide (CO2), but remain in the atmosphere for a much shorter time period. Therefore a reduction today means a rapid effect in “….weeks or months, not decades or centuries,” according to atmospheric physicist Veerabhadran Ramanathan, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San Diego.

Even better news: out of about 400 emission control measures studied, the team of researchers noted that just 14 of those steps generated 90% of the benefits. Third on the list is capturing methane — also known as biogas, from landfills in the U.S. and China. Other steps on the “top 14″ list involve capture of methane from other sources, such as coal mines or petroleum exploration. In addition, the study found that many of these measures provide more economic value in benefits than their cost.

The study doesn’t go into how much more GHG reduction and economic benefit could result from use of captured and cleaned methane to displace the use of dirtier fuels such as coal and diesel. That’s an obvious next step, and one that FirmGreen has been pursuing since 2002, with its strategy of displacing dirtier transportation fuels with cleaned methane (known as biomethane) from wasted resources such as landfills, waste water treatment plants, and livestock operations.

Find out more about how FirmGreen is using wasted biogas resources to generate economic value and benefit the environment: www.firmgreen.com

Obviously, market development is required for increased use of biomethane in the transport sector, and support in the U.S. currently lags well behind that in the EU. In an article available online, a UK Environmental Audit states that “biomethane is an almost perfect renewable transport fuel.” The audit concludes that wide adoption of CNG and biomethane for transport will deliver the greatest air quality benefits at the lowest cost, especially when compared to expensive battery powered hybrid electric vehicles.

NGV refueling stations are somewhat costly to install (though not significantly more costly than a new fossil fuel station) and are only commercially viable if they refuel a significant number of vehicles — such as a fleet. Therefore the market penetration of NGVs for personal vehicles suffers from a classic problem; fuel suppliers are reluctant to construct refueling stations until there are sufficient numbers of NGVs, and consumers are unwilling to purchase the vehicles until there are sufficient refueling stations.

How do we get past this longstanding issue? A 2011 European Commission (EC) report on smart gas grids concludes that NG fueling stations can be located near their existing natural gas grid, avoiding the need for a costly build out of new gas distribution infrastructure. A similar approach might significantly reduce the overall cost of NG fueling infrastructure development, even for geographically large countries such as the U.S. However, the U.S. would still have large NG fueling gaps in areas that are not along natural gas pipeline routes, so a focus on fueling for fleets continues to make sense economically. Locating fueling hubs near fuel feedstock supplies such as landfills and waste-water treatment facilities is likely to continue as a limiting factor for biomethane use, unless national energy policy supports NG as a transportation fuel on a long term basis.

The European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative (EIBI), is a related effort underway in the EU to accelerate commercialization of advanced sustainable bioenergy. The broadest objective of this organization is to bring sustainable energy and fuel products to market at costs competitive with fossil fuels. Biomethane is one of several paths being explored to bring cost effective renewable fuels to the market; developing coherent policy that promotes a willingness for industry to invest in alternative fuels and energy is a primary task.

Find clean fuel facts about biomethane and CNG at: firmgreen.com

Links to article sources:
UK Parliament Environmental Audit Summary (opens in new window or tab)

EC Report on Smart Gas Grids – biomethane references, pp15-16 (PDF opens in new window)

European Industrial Bioenergy Initiative (EIBI) (opens in new window or tab)

Speakers from Argonne National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory will be featured. Topics will include discussion of technologies for producing biomethane (or renewable natural gas), costs and benefits, plus opportunities for biomethane use as a transportation fuel.

Registration and more information about the webinar series is online.
click here for registration info (PDF document opens in new tab or window)

The MV Egret has landed, and FirmGreen’s latest green technology shipment was being offloaded late into the evening Monday at the port of Rio de Janeiro.

The equipment will be installed at and operate the Novo Gramacho biogas cleaning facility, creating long-term jobs and clean energy. The resulting pipeline quality natural gas fuel will significantly benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and displacing the use of dirtier fuels.

Find out more about FirmGreen’s alternative energy and fuels at firmgreen.com

MV Industrial Egret is now slightly ahead of schedule as she nears Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her last port call at Ilhéus in Bahia, Brazil went swiftly and the Egret is now back in route toward Rio — approximately 444 NM (nautical miles) from her most recently reported position of 17.59 S / 038.17 W as of noon local time (UTC -3) today, August 26th.

FirmGreen’s 2nd green technology shipment is aboard; soon to be offloaded and transported to the Novo Gramacho Landfill near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The USA-made equipment will be assembled on site, providing jobs for Brazilian workers as well as US workers who will assist in plant startup. Once operational, the biogas facility will clean dirty landfill gas to a pipeline quality biogas —biomethane—similar to natural gas. The project will create 200 or more long-term jobs, and benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and displacing the use of dirtier fuels. Find out more about FirmGreen’s alternative energy and fuels at firmgreen.com

The MV Industrial Egret is currently traveling southeastward along the coast of Brazil at a speed of 15.6 knots. MV Egret is expected to its next port call at Itaqui over the weekend, and is approximately 222 NM out as of August 19. We’ll have the updated position of FirmGreen’s green technology every day or so as the Egret travels southeastward along the coast of Brazil, to its final destination of Rio de Janeiro, currently expected August 29th.

– POSITION UPDATE AUGUST 18 –

The MV Industrial Egret has offloaded cargo in Smalkalden Harbor and is now back in route. The MV Egret’s next stop is Port Itaqui, São Luís, Brazil, approximately 620 NM (nautical miles) away as of August 18.

The green technology aboard will be assembled once on site near Rio de Janeiro. Once operational, the facility will clean dirty landfill gas to a pipeline quality biogas —biomethane—similar to natural gas. The project will create 200 or more long-term jobs, and benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and displacing the use of dirtier fuels. Find out more about FirmGreen’s alternative energy and fuels at firmgreen.com

Today, MV Industrial Egret is cruising off the coast of Venezuela as it continues toward its next port call. With shipment two of FirmGreen’s green technology cargo aboard, the Egret exits the Caribbean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean, passing Grenada to the north and Trinidad & Tobago to the south. Last week’s tropical storm slowed progress just a bit, and arrival at Parmaribo, Suriname is now expected on August 11th.

This shipment is part of FirmGreen’s export of green technology that will clean landfill gas, providing renewable natural gas fuel to power an industrial facility near Rio de Janeiro. The construction and operation of this facility will create skilled, long term jobs in the USA and in Brazil. Find out more about the project at: firmgreen.com.

Find out more about green technology for renewable energy at firmgreen.com

CCE has been so pleased with the results thus far that it plans to target its heavy duty fleet for conversion/replacement to run on biomethane.
More on this story at roadtransport.com

Waste Management (WM) rolled out its 1000th natural gas powered refuse truck just a few days ago, celebrating with a ceremony at its Carson, California fleet yard. With this vehicle, a full third of WM’s fleet is now powered with biomethane. The clean biomethane fuel is being sourced from a landfill in Livermore, California.