Cleaner trucks with natural gas
To avoid another oil spill disaster like BP’s in the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama has called for jump-starting a “clean energy industry” to produce wind turbines, solar panels and energy-efficient windows…
Yet these measures don’t address the most significant cause of U.S. oil addiction: 254 million cars, buses and trucks that consume 66 percent of the oil we use, most of it imported at roughly $1 billion a day.
The place to begin a significant exodus from oil is with the 10 million medium and heavy duty trucks and buses. While they make up only 4 percent of all road vehicles, they use an astounding 23 percent of highway fuel — 13 percent of total U.S. oil use. They emit a quarter of road-related greenhouse gases and the preponderance of health-endangering urban air pollution.
These trucks and buses provide services essential to every community. Trucks are also a crucial part of the U.S. economy, hauling freight worth 70 percent of the gross domestic product.
So this sector’s reliance on petroleum-based fuels will most increasingly expose our economy to the risk of disruption as oil prices rise and competition for the remaining world oil supplies from China, India and other developing countries grows.
The good news is that there is a fuel solution for bus and truck fleets now: natural gas.
In the last decade, more than 70 communities across the country have embraced natural gas vehicle technology for its many immediate benefits:
1) Natural gas vehicles are fully commercial. A new industry now exists for refueling and servicing them.
2) Natural gas is our nation’s most plentiful alternative fuel — with more than a century’s worth of supply at current rates of use.
3) Natural gas is the cleanest-burning alternative fuel. It is virtually soot-free, and up to 80 percent lower in nitrogen oxide emissions than diesel and 20 percent lower in greenhouse gases.
4) Natural gas frees community and produce-carrying fleets from petroleum-dependence, offering greater energy security and a cheaper domestic fuel.
While natural gas is a depletable fossil fuel, its use today in fleets paves the way for biomethane – a clean renewable gas fuel that fits the bill for a sustainable transportation future. Biomethane is chemically-identical to natural gas but is renewable, made from decomposing organic materials–like garbage, sewage or farm wastes. It is also carbon-neutral.