Thursday, May 30, 2013

"CNG and LNG: What's Best for Your Fleet" Webinar, June 18

From NGTNews:
Natural gas engine manufacturer Westport and Clean Energy Fuels, a provider of natural gas for transportation usage, are presenting a webinar titled "CNG and LNG: What's Best for Your Fleet" on June 18 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m to 11:00 a.m. PT).

The program, which is offered free of charge, will focus on the considerations for fleets when choosing between compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) applications for their vehicles, including the differences in fuel and equipment costs, how to calculate payback and ROI, and what's happening in infrastructure buildout.

John Howell, senior director of marketing at Westport, and Jim Harger, chief marketing officer for Clean Energy Fuels, will lead the webinar.

For more details, call (604) 718-2011 or send an email to media@westport.com

Go here to register.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

CNG For The U.S. Postal Service

MERVAN Project - an initiative that envisions the large-scale deployment of natural gas vehicles in the U.S. Postal Service will be meeting with the Postmaster General's office in June 2013. This article (with a video interview) in The Oklahoman has more info.


Go here to see the video that kicked it off: "Pumpfiction." Their goal is not only to promote natural gas vehicles for all their known benefits, but to help save the USPS from its financial straits.

Monday, May 27, 2013

The Most Common Alternative Fuel Is…?

Readers of this blog won't be surprised, but The Motley Fool thought their readers might be surprised to learn that the most common alternative fuel is natural gas - by a huge margin.

Consumption Of Alternative Fuels In Vehicles - 2011
Measured in gasoline-equivalent gallons
  • Natural Gas 246,489,000
  • Ethanol 137,165,000
  • Propane 124,457,000
  • Electricity 7,635,000
  • Hydrogen 174,000

CNG Truck Buying Guide Video

A 9-minute introductory level video.

Thinking of buying a CNG pickup truck? Want to know more about the benefits of transitioning to CNG? Not all CNG trucks are the same.

There are a number of key factors to consider before buying, including the importance of selecting a qualified vehicle modifier. This video outlines some of the guidelines you should check into before selecting your next bi-fuel pickup truck.

Legislation Tracker

The Advanced Energy Legislation Tracker allows you to search by state, policy category, keywords, bill number, sponsor, or through a combination of any of these.
Advanced Energy Legislation Tracker


The recently-released Advanced Energy Legislation Tracker allows users to find and track advanced energy legislation at the state level. The site is searchable by state, policy category (including transportation, emissions, and financing and financial incentives), keyword, bill number, and/or sponsor. Search results include information that you would typically find on a state legislature website (bill sponsor, recent actions, a link to bill text) in a concise and consistent format.

At this moment in time, the tracker lists 134 pieces of legislation in California, for example.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Question Of The Month For May 2013

This Question of the Month from the DOE Clean Cities Technical Response Team is the first installment in a two-part series describing requirements for federal fleets (May) and state and alternative fuel provider fleets (June) under EPAct 1992 and subsequent regulations and directives.


Question of the Month: What are the requirements for federal fleets under the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct 1992) and subsequent regulations and directives?

EPAct 1992, EPAct 2005, and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2008

Under EPAct 1992, 75% of new covered light-duty vehicles (LDVs) acquired by federal fleets must be alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). Federal fleets are considered covered fleets if both of the following conditions are met:
  • They own, operate, lease, or otherwise control 20 or more non-excluded LDVs (vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 8,500 pounds or less) that are used primarily within a single metropolitan statistical area. Excluded vehicles include emergency, law enforcement, military tactical, and non-road vehicles, and
  • Those same 20 vehicles are centrally fueled or capable of being centrally fueled.

NDAA of 2008 expanded EPAct 1992’s definition of AFVs to include hybrid electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, advanced lean burn technology vehicles, and any low-greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting vehicle (as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) acquired in a location that would qualify for an EPAct 2005, Section 701 fuel waiver. Section 701 of EPAct 2005 requires federal fleets to use alternative fuels in dual-fuel vehicles unless the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) determines an agency qualifies for a waiver; grounds for a waiver include the lack of alternative fuel availability (within five miles or 15 minutes from the vehicle’s garaged location) and cost restrictions (alternative fuel is more expensive per gallon than gasoline). To find information about waivered fleets in your area, visit the Sustainable Federal Fleet Performance Data website.

Federal fleets comply with EPAct 1992 requirements using AFV acquisition credits, which are granted based on the number of AFVs acquired and the volume of biodiesel fuel used. If an agency’s total AFV credits divided by the number of covered LDV acquisitions in a fiscal year (FY) equals 75% or greater, the agency is considered to be in compliance. Federal fleets earn credits for each light-, medium-, or heavy-duty AFV they acquire each year and for every 450 gallons of pure biodiesel (B100), equivalent to 2,250 gallons of B20, used in fleet vehicles.

For more information on EPAct 1992, please refer to the Federal Energy Management Program’s (FEMP) EPAct 1992 website, as well as the full text of EPAct 1992.

Executive Orders

Executive Order (E.O.) 13423 requires federal agencies with 20 or more non-excluded vehicles in their U.S. fleet to decrease petroleum consumption by 2% each year, relative to their FY 2005 baseline, through the end of FY 2015, for a total reduction of 20%. Agencies must also continue to increase their alternative fuel use by 10% per year, relative to the previous year over the same timeframe, yielding an approximately 159% increase.

E.O. 13514 requires each federal agency to develop, implement, and annually update a Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan. Federal agencies must measure, reduce, and report their GHG emissions, with an overall federal government direct GHG emissions reduction goal of 28% by 2020, relative to a FY 2008 baseline. Reductions may be achieved through a variety of measures including reducing vehicle use, increasing fleet fuel efficiency, using AFVs, and implementing fleet optimization efforts. In addition, E.O. 13514 extended petroleum reduction targets established by E.O. 13423 to FY 2020, for a total future reduction of 30%.

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA)

Further requirements for federal fleets were included in the EISA 2007, including fleet management plan requirements (Section 142), low-GHG emitting vehicle acquisition requirements (Section 141), and renewable fuel infrastructure installation requirements (Section 246). DOE is currently developing a rulemaking on the alternative fuel increase requirements under EISA Section 142.

For a summary of federal agency fleet requirements, refer to the Sustainable Federal Fleets website and Alternative Fuels Data Center Vehicle Acquisition and Fuel Use Requirements for Federal Fleets summary. Also refer to the Clean Cities University course on Understanding EPAct-Regulated Fleets and the FEMP training course on Fleet Management 101. In addition, the chart below provides a breakdown of the key federal requirements described above:

Federal Fleet Requirements
 EPAct (1992 & 2005)E.O. 13423EISA 2007E.O. 13514
GHG Emissions Reduction  All LDV & medium-duty vehicle (MDV) acquisitions must be low-GHG emitting vehiclesSets percentage reduction targets for agency GHG emissions
Petroleum Reduction 2% annual reduction in petroleum use between FY 2005 and FY 2015E.O. 13423 requirement becomes law2% annual reduction in petroleum use between FY 2005 and FY 2020
Fleet Planning  Develop agency plan to meet petroleum and alternative fuel goalsDevelop agency plan to meet E.O. 13514 sustainability goals
Alternative Fuel UseDual-fueled AFVs must use alternative fuel, unless waiveredIncrease alternative fuel use 10% from previous yearInstall renewable pumps at all fueling centers 
AFV AcquisitionAFVs must be 75% of light-duty acquisitionsUse plug-in hybrid electric (PHEVs) when commercially availableAll LDV & MDV acquisitions must be low-GHG emitting vehicles 

Friday, May 3, 2013

Fracking For Oil

An AP article about technological advances in drilling for oil and gas.
The result is an abundance that has put the United States on track to become the world's largest producer of oil and gas in a few years. As domestic production as soared, oil imports have fallen to a 17-year low, the U.S. government reported Thursday [May 2, 2013].

Fracking, which has produced such an abundance of natural gas, is doing the same thing for oil in the United States.