Renewable natural gas on-road fuel use reaches historic high

Washington, DC– Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVAmerica) and the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) has announced that 32 percent of all on-road fuel used in natural gas vehicles in calendar year 2018 was renewable natural gas (RNG).

Captured above ground from organic material in agricultural, wastewater, landfill or food waste, RNG – or biomethane – produces net carbon-neutral and even net carbon-negative results when fueling on-road vehicles like short- and long-haul trucks, transit buses, and refuse and recycling collection vehicles.  RNG fuel in 2018 had an EER-adjusted carbon intensity as low as -303.30 according to the California Air Resources Board.  By comparison, California’s electricity grid rated between 25.0 and 38.95.[1]

Over the last five years, RNG use as a transportation fuel has increased 577 percent, displacing over seven million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).  NGVAmerica and the RNG Coalition report that in 2018 a total of 645 million gasoline gallon equivalent of natural gas was used as a motor fuel.  Of that, more than 204 million gasoline gallon equivalent was renewable.[2]

“Proven and affordable natural gas vehicle technology is over 90 percent cleaner than federal EPA nitrogen oxide emission standards,” said Dan Gage, President of NGVAmerica.  “And when those American-made heavy-duty trucks and buses are fueled with renewable natural gas, they are up to 125 percent cleaner than the cleanest diesel technology in terms of carbon emissions.  RNG-fueled vehicles are the most immediate and cost-effective heavy-duty option when seeking to combat climate change.”