What is RNG

Technologies exist today to replace diesel engines with cleaner ones powered by renewable transportation fuels. One immediate option is renewable natural gas (RNG).

RNG is a model alternative fuel. Produced from waste feedstocks, RNG delivers benefits throughout the fuel lifecycle. And making it captures greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural waste and landfills that is ultimately good for the environment.

RNG is made from 100% renewable sources.

RNG is made primarily from organic waste, generated by a variety of sustainable and renewable sources, including wastewater treatment plants, food and green waste, landfills, dairies, farms, and forest management. It can also be produced as a byproduct of renewable hydrogen and sequestered CO2, a key strategy to store surplus renewable electricity. Unlike fossil fuel, RNG is not formed by a geologic process and did not spend millions of years underground. RNG simply recycles methane that is already present in the biosphere.

Source: California Natural Gas Vehicle Partnership

RNG use enables fleets to go beyond carbon neutrality.

All motor vehicle fuels have a “carbon intensity (CI)” value, which is the total amount of GHGs emitted from production, transportation, refining and consumption. A negative carbon intensity value means that the use of this fuel actually reduces global warming potential in the atmosphere. In 2021 the energy weighted carbon intensity value of all natural gas used for transportation fuel in California was below zero at negative 33.36 gCO2e/MJ, according to recently released data from the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program. Natural gas vehicles operating in California provide the greatest GHG emission benefits compared to all other transportation fuels and should be a key component in the strategy to combat climate change.

Learn more about the benefits of RNG use in natural gas vehicles.