NGVAmerica News Week in Review: November 21, 2016
- Los Angeles Unified School District Purchases 71 Thomas Built CNG School Buses
- California City Signs Multi-Year Contract with Clean Energy for Redeem RNG
- Trillium CNG Opens Additional Locations in Washington and Maryland
- Big Blue Bus Receives Funding for Natural Gas Engine Upgrades
- S. Gain and Independence Fuel Systems Partner with C.A.T. for New CNG Station
- Lincoln Tech Bringing CNG Training Program to Denver Campus
- Matheson Trucking Named One of the Top 50 Green Fleets for 2016
Los Angeles Unified School District Purchases 71 Thomas Built CNG School Buses
November 15, 2016
Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest school district in the country, has purchased 71 Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG school buses from Thomas Built Buses. With the purchase of these new buses, LA Unified becomes the latest in a growing number of districts incorporate Type C CNG school buses in its fleet.
In 1994, LA Unified implemented a long-term replacement strategy to decrease its environmental impact and refresh its older fleet of buses. Through a $300,000 grant from California Energy Commission (CEC), the district has been replacing many of its older buses with CNG units and updating its CNG infrastructure.
Today, LA Unified operates 1,300 school buses, more than half of which run on alternative fuel, which includes 475 CNG buses. The district has the largest fleet of CNG-powered school buses in the US and operates CNG fueling stations on San Julian Street, Gardena and one in Sun Valley.
“LA Unified has made great strides over the past few years by incorporating alternative fueled vehicles into their fleet,” said Caley Edgerly, president and CEO of Thomas Built Buses. “The addition of Thomas Built’s Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG school buses paves the way for other school districts to deploy Type C CNG buses into their own fleets.”
The new Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG features the Cummins Westport ISB6.7 G 6.7L natural gas engine and an Allison 2000 series transmission. It is CARB-certified, meets CARB’s optional low NOx standard of 0.1g/bhp-hr and meets EPA 2016 emissions and 2017 EPA greenhouse gas (GHG) requirements.
California City Signs Multi-Year Contract with Clean Energy for Redeem RNG
November 16, 2016
The City of Torrance in Southern California has awarded Clean Energy a new multiyear CNG contract to fuel its fleet of vehicles. The six-year deal, which calls for 550,000 GGEs, will enable the city to use Clean Energy’s Redeem brand of renewable natural gas (RNG), rated up to 70 percent cleaner than diesel and considered the cleanest transportation fuel available. The city made the decision to convert its fleet of buses to RNG as part of its commitment to meeting goals set in their Energy Efficiency Climate Action Plan.
Torrance, which is bordered by some of the highest congested transportation corridors including the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is committed to ensuring it does its part in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Torrance Transit System recently announced that it had become a 100 percent Alternative Fuel Bus Fleet.
“The City of Torrance strongly believes we owe it to our community to operate in the most environmentally-responsible manner possible,” said Kim Turner, Director of Transit for the City of Torrance. “By fueling our fleet with Redeem, we are able to decrease the amount of GHG emissions that are emitted into the air that everyone breathes, and ensures we help provide a healthy community for our citizens to call home.”
Clean Energy completed the construction of the city’s CNG station in January of 2015 to support the transit department, which consumes over 500,000 GGEs per year. The use of CNG has allowed the city to save nearly $1 for every gallon of fuel.
Clean Energy’s Redeem is a renewable natural gas vehicle fuel, often referred to as biomethane, that is derived from biogenic methane or biogas, which is methane that is naturally generated by the decomposition of organic waste. The methane gas is processed, purified and sent into the interstate natural gas pipeline and made available exclusively to Clean Energy customers.
Trillium CNG Opens Additional Locations in Washington and Maryland
November 15, 2016
Love’s Trillium CNG has added two CNG stations in Washington and Maryland to its network of locations and recently signed an agreement to design a CNG system for an existing station in Pennsylvania.
Love’s Trillium’s new CNG locations are now serving Customers in Aberdeen, Maryland, near U.S. Highway 40, and Vancouver, Washington. Love’s Trillium received a grant from the Maryland Energy Administration to help complete the Aberdeen location. The Vancouver facility was designed to primarily meet the needs of Matheson Postal Services and PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division. Both stations are Trillium owned and operated and open to the public. Both stations feature two CNG dispensers.
In addition, a light-duty CNG location is scheduled to open in early 2017 at an American Natural convenience store in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. The company recently selected Love’s Trillium to design a CNG system for an existing location. Two CNG pumps will be added to the store’s current infrastructure, with construction scheduled to begin in late 2016. Love’s Trillium first worked with American Natural to design a CNG system for a site in Harmar, Pennsylvania.
Big Blue Bus Receives Funding for Natural Gas Engine Upgrades
November 15, 2016
Big Blue Bus (BBB), the transit authority service Santa Monica, California, has announced it will receive $870,000 from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee’s (MSRC) Near Zero Engine Incentive Program. The funds will be used to upgrade the agency’s CNG engines, which will further reduce emissions and extend the lifespan of its vehicles.
Big Blue Bus will use the grant approved by the MSRC to partially fund the purchase of fifty-eight new Cummins-Westport 8.9L ISL G Near-Zero 0.02 NOx engines. The engines are first mid-range engine in North America to receive emission certifications from both the U.S. EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB) that meet the 0.02 g/bhp-hr optional Near Zero NOx Emissions standards. The new engines will be installed over a period of three to four years, at a rate of 12 to 18 buses per year.
In June 2015, Big Blue Bus was awarded $5.9 million from the Federal Transit Administration to purchase nine new CNG buses. BBB says the recent procurement of both CNG buses and engines will help the agency reduce its current nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by over 90 percent in 2018.
“Big Blue Bus’s steady procurement of low-emitting, alternatively-fueled vehicles is very much indicative of an ongoing, citywide commitment to sustainability, while providing a strong, affordable, reliable regional transit system,” said Santa Monica Mayor Tony Vazquez. “Their efforts continue to play a significant role in reducing the City’s carbon footprint, including its greenhouse gas emissions, while mitigating the adverse effects of climate change in our region.”
U.S. Gain and Independence Fuel Systems Partner with C.A.T. for New CNG Station
November 16, 2016
Representatives from Canadian American Transport (C.A.T.), U.S. Gain and Independence Fuel Systems (IFS), celebrated the grand opening of the newest GAIN Clean Fuel and FastFlow CNG station in Laredo, Texas. The station, located on Highway 83, will provide the North American carrier with alternative fuel to support C.A.T.’s growing fleet of CNG trucks. Nearly a third of C.A.T.’s fleet of 350 tractors have been converted to CNG.
“We’re proud to make an investment in our future and be a leader in creating sustainable transport by opening our fifth CNG station with U.S. Gain and first station with IFS,” said Daniel Goyette, president of C.A.T. “By converting our fleet to CNG, we’ve made a significant move to becoming more environmentally-friendly and creating fuel price stability.”
The Laredo, Texas location, like all other GAIN Clean Fuel and FastFlow stations, will provide fast-fill fueling and will be open for use by other fleets and the general public. They will also have fleet card acceptance capabilities for trucker convenience and provide reliability to ensure that fleets have a consistent fuel source.
Lincoln Tech Bringing CNG Training Program to Denver Campus
November 15, 2016
Lincoln Educational Services Corporation, a provider of specialized technical training, will begin offering training in CNG systems as part of an expanded diesel career training program at its campus in Denver, Colorado. The enhanced curriculum will increase graduates’ skill sets and create more career paths in their job search.
“Alternative fuel systems like CNG are the environmentally-friendly future of the diesel and transportation industry,” says Lincoln’s President and CEO Scott Shaw. “The versatile alternative fuels industry has become critical to the nation’s economic future and Lincoln Tech aims to provide the skilled technicians to sustain it.”
Through the Diesel & Truck with Alternative Fuel Technology training program, students will receive hands-on training with diesel engines, brakes, fuel systems and more. They will build skills for disassembling and reassembling engines, inspecting all system components, applying safety and maintenance procedures for CNG fuel systems, and working with the science behind compressed natural gas. The Denver, Colorado campus is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC).
Matheson Trucking Named One of the Top 50 Green Fleets for 2016
November 16, 2016
Matheson Trucking has been named as having one of the Top 50 Green Fleets in the nation for 2016 by Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT) magazine, an award recognizing trucking companies that are leading the industry in the adoption of green, sustainable practices, policies and technologies.
As one of the country’s five largest contract carriers for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Matheson says it is committed to lowering greenhouse gas emissions by converting its fleet clean burning CNG and LNG fuel. The company supports the USPS sustainability goal of reducing diesel use by 20 percent by the year 2020 as well as industry plans designed to expand the Natural Gas Highway by creating a series of LNG fueling stations across North America for the country’s long-haul trucking fleet.
“Matheson is dedicated to decreasing diesel fuel consumption on routes we serve,” said Joshua Matheson, Vice President of Operations. “We are pleased to be honored by the editors of HDT for our ongoing efforts to improve air quality by lowering greenhouse gas emissions leading to a clean energy environment.”
HDT’s editors chose the Top 50 Green Fleets from candidates that are nominated online by gathering publicly available information gleaned from press releases, websites and case studies. The list is comprised of companies of all types and sizes, including government fleets, private fleets, for-hire fleets, as well as truckload, less-than-truckload, vocational and delivery fleets. Some fleets have fewer than 50 trucks, while others have more than 5,000. Firms selected have made a commitment to green, sustainable operations. HDT has been recognizing fleets with this special award since 2013.
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