That’s right. Cleaner burning natural gas is now being produced from decomposing organic matter.
The New York Times reports that Clean Energy Fuels announced that it has started marketing a fuel called Redeem that is made from methane released by landfills and other waste sources. Redeem will be available at more than 40 Clean Energy filling stations in California.
The company expects to sell 15 million gallons of the fuel in California this year, more than double the amount of similar fuels the Environmental Protection Agency projected would be produced nationwide. Its customers include companies like AT&T, Verizon, Mattel and Williams-Sonoma as well as large fleet operators like SuperShuttle and Hertz.
Clean Energy, which is backed by T. Boone Pickens, is developing a nationwide network of natural gas pumps and plans to introduce the fuel elsewhere as well.
The quest to develop a marketable biomethane has stumped scientists for decades. According to The Times, “(f)armers, waste management companies and the energy industries have long experimented with converting methane, a byproduct of decomposing organic matter, into transportation fuel.”
The Times perceives numerous benefits now that such a product has come to market:
“The fuel’s environmental benefits also include capturing the methane before it is released into the atmosphere. When the methane-derived fuel is burned, it is far less harmful to the atmosphere than petroleum fuels. But the methane that escapes directly from decomposing waste is more potent as a heat-trapping gas than carbon.”
In addition to the environmental benefits, there are considerable cost savings associated with using biogas instead of more expensive diesel fuel, which is why companies are opting to use it for fleet vehicles. As The Times points out, “The new fuel is also cheaper than diesel fuel and it provides the companies some insulation from the geopolitics that can drive up petroleum prices.”
Read more HERE.