Renewable Natural Gas - A Commercial Near-Zero Emission Technology Option for the Transit Sector
Thursday October 22, 2020 | 2:00 - 3:00 PM
No Registration Fee (Members Only)
Meeting Location: Webinar (Login details will be emailed once you register)
Presenters:
Topic Description
Over the last few years, transit agencies in the US and Canada (MTA, Orange County Transit, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Hamilton Street Railway, Calgary Transit, the Cities of Medicine Hat and Red Deer, BC Transit and Translink) have introduced/transitioned thousands of natural gas buses equipped to run on renewable natural gas made from organic waste.
In the US, more and more transit agencies have begun to transition existing and new natural gas buses to RNG, as part of the broad shift toward zero and near-zero emission solutions. State and federal policy have played a major role in making the economics attractive to do so. In Canada, adoption of RNG to date has been limited due to a lack of similar programs/incentives, but the introduction of a federal Clean Fuel Standard would pave the way for RNG to be cost competitive with diesel.
There is significant interest and investment across North America in the broad electrification of the transit sector, which is a welcome trend. Nonetheless, early adopters and demonstrations of electric bus technology have yielded various financial and operational challenges and setbacks, highlighted by recent findings from Los Angeles County Metro Transit, Foothill Transit and Canadian agencies like TTC and Edmonton Transit.
In this webinar, Matt Tomich, President of Energy Vision, a leading US environmental nonprofit, along with one Canadian and one US transit leader will present and discuss perspectives on the short, medium and long-term prospects for clean, low-carbon RNG. Ultimately, there is broad consensus around the need to rapidly transition away from diesel as the dominant fuel choice for transit fleets. The question is what options do fleets have, at what cost and what lifecycle impacts.
Learning Objectives
- Objective 1: To introduce renewable natural gas derived from abundant urban and rural organic waste sources and the climate, clean air and economic benefits this strategy can provide to transit agencies
- Objective 2: To explore the operational considerations associated with the shift away from diesel to zero and near-zero emission alternatives
- Objective 3: To highlight success stories and early adopters of RNG buses and the rationale behind their decision making process(es).
Webinar login details will be emailed once you register.