Sustainability

As organizations progress through projects to reduce their overall environmental impact, transportation is often one of the later areas of focus, but often, can present significant emission savings.

Alternative fuel, depending on your logistics plan, can provide scope 1 and/or scope 3 emission savings. As transportation continues to be a target for emission savings from policymakers, incentives will remain to entice organizations like yours to adopt alternative fuel. For you, this presents an environmental opportunity with economic benefits others in your organization will appreciate.

Many options exist and present varied benefits and considerations, depending on vehicle application and utilization rates. Reach out and we can help you determine the right path forward based on your needs. In the meantime, below are a few choices to entertain.

• Natural gas has been the alternative fuel of choice for many fleets across market sectors. With the emergence of renewable natural gas, fleets now have the option to utilize existing natural gas vehicle technology with a non-fossil fuel solution, which has many organizations very excited. Infrastructure is widely accessible throughout the nation, which provides another reason why natural gas is the best, immediate choice.
• Electrification is happening rapidly throughout the transportation market. The passenger market and small commercial vehicles have started successful conversion with plans to continue. However, medium and heavy-duty electric vehicles are in varied stages of development. Further, infrastructure is limited for fast-charging applications.
• Hydrogen is a fuel we’re really interested in because of environmental benefits, but unfortunately vehicle technology must develop further and likely will lag that of commercial electric vehicles.

Certainly, be sure to evaluate funding opportunities in the markets that your fleet (or outsourced logistics) operate. Many states have appropriated budgets toward advancement of clean fuel adoption. For you, this likely can come in the form of grants to either purchase new alternative fuel vehicles or build new alternative fueling infrastructure. The grant program landscape is often changing — reach out and we can link you to funding in your area.

Aside from grants, economic incentives in the form of lower taxes and reduced registration fees positively impact the total cost of ownership. In the case of renewable natural gas, you can expect a low, nonvolatile fuel cost, in addition to potential environmental credits that sweeten its financial attractiveness.

Aside from economics, you must consider the total environmental impact of an alternative fuel prior to making any decision. Electric and hydrogen powered vehicles provide zero tailpipe emissions – dramatically improving air quality for areas in which they operate. However, as with many sustainability projects, evaluating the entire lifecycle emissions associated with anything is a worthy exercise. That said, renewable natural gas provides the greatest lifecycle (or well-to-wheel) emissions of any fuel, especially that derived from animal waste. Renewable natural gas will provide emission benefits you need at an affordable price point.

You, like many organizations, have likely solved for or are in the process of solving for electricity-related emissions. Aside from purchased electricity, purchased heating and cooling comprises a significant portion of your emissions profile. Organizations are now interested in solving for thermal-related emissions through deployment of renewables. As more development projects continue to surface, the RNG supply increases making it easier for more organizations to find enough volume to support their needs.

• Renewable natural gas (RNG) is a readily available solution that comes without infrastructure costs and is available regardless of weather conditions. RNG is made from decomposing waste at farms, landfills, food waste collection areas and wastewater treatment plants. The benefit? It’s already in existing natural gas pipelines, where you’re likely drawing heat from today.
• The most common form of thermal energy today is solar power. This energy is harvested from solar collectors which can be used to heat buildings, water and various processes. The downside to this is your energy production could be limited by land availability, and/or roof size and weather conditions.
• Geothermal energy is another option. It’s the process of generating electricity by using heat from deep inside the Earth to generate steam, ultimately creating electricity used to heat water and buildings. This is a relatively new solution and can come with some costly start-up projects.

With any renewable energy solution, there will be a cost premium involved. For solar and geothermal power, the investment involved is capital-related. You will be making a large investment at the beginning of the project for all of the equipment and solar panels needed to produce the energy. With renewable natural gas, you won’t be paying a large sum in upfront costs, you’ll only be paying a slightly higher price for the gas you’re using. The benefit in this is that with solar and geothermal you pay upfront. And if your supply is limited, whether it be weather-related or some other reason, you already paid for the equipment and now aren’t using it. Renewable natural gas is different because you only pay for what you want to use and you’ll never run out.