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PERSPECTIVE
By Eric Bippus
Agility Fuel Solutions
In November, UPS and Agility Fuel Solutions announced one of the most important compressed natural gas (CNG) deals in the trucking industry. UPS's new $450 million investment contributes to a market projected to grow to 1.2 billion gasoline gallon equivalents (GGE) by 2025. With investments of this caliber, it's no wonder CNG is poised to become a leader among alternative fuels, presenting a realistic solution for greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions because of low costs and existing infrastructure.
Here are four key reasons why we think fleet owners should strongly consider CNG when planning for conversions and new purchases:
1. CNG supports fleet sustainability goals. Compressed natural gas contains methane (CH4), which burns cleanly from fossil fuel deposits or the decomposition of food waste, sewage, refuse or manure. As a low-carbon, clean-burning fuel, CNG can reduce GHG emissions up to 17 percent compared to conventional diesel or up to 90 percent when using RNG produced from landfills, dairy farms and other bio sources.
The latter – non-fossil, renewable natural gas (RNG) – is also referred to as biogas or biomethane and transported from its source to the point of use by pipeline, then compressed to high pressures and stored on vehicles as CNG. UPS's newly procured trucks, featuring Agility Fuel Solutions' CNG fuel systems, can interchangeably use conventional natural gas or RNG.
2. CNG has cost benefits compared to diesel. CNG fuel prices at the pump are significantly lower than diesel, partly because the fuel is cheaper to begin with, and, in the case of biogas, because of renewable fuel credits ("RINs") and California low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) credits partially passed along to the end user to incentivize fleets to convert to CNG.
CNG can also help fleets reduce their maintenance and operating expenses. Because natural gas is a small molecule that burns cleanly, emissions after treatment on a CNG truck are a simple three-phase catalyst. There's no need for expensive and maintenance-intensive diesel particulate filters or selective catalyst reduction systems (SCR) systems.
3. Picking the right clean transportation provider can enable success. Because CNG on-board fuel takes up to approximately four times the volume of diesel, CNG storage can be a large and complex system on a truck. Having a lightweight, durable and reliable CNG storage system helps keep costs down.
Agility Fuel Solutions is a vertically integrated manufacturer of fuel storage systems, as well as lightweight carbon composite CNG cylinders. With end-to-end design, manufacturing and in-house aftermarket support, Agility Fuel Systems delivers quality, low-cost, reliable products to fleets.
4. The moment for CNG is now. You don't have to wait for new technology to be ready for the market. CNG is available today and already deployed at scale by major fleets like UPS.
In addition to being as clean or cleaner (with biogas) and cheaper to operate than other fuel options, CNG is widely used already in transit and refuse fleets, as well as in tens of thousands of trucks in North America.
You can see the full-length version of this story here.
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News
Here are a few highlights to keep you up-to-date
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EVENTS
Here's Where You'll Find Us
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Suzanne Lindsay-Walker, Chief Sustainability Officer, and other UPSers will discuss UPS's approach to enabling the circular economy.
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In Case You Missed It
GreenBiz executive editor Joel Makower led a discussion with UPS, Cross River Partnership and UK Power Networks Services about a new generation of sustainable urban delivery services in London. The recording is available here.
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| This publication was created to bring you sustainability insights and stories that we hope will inspire you. A new issue will be provided every few months. We welcome your comments and ideas. Drop us a line: sustainability@ups.com. |
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