Category: Animal Rights & Environment

By EDF Blogs

By Joe Rudek and Jason Mathers

Many commercial fleet operators have considered switching their fleet vehicles from diesel to natural gas to take advantage of the growing abundance of natural gas and reduced emissions. Natural gas trucks have the potential to reduce nitrogen oxides emissions (NOx) from freight trucks and buses.

Yet, adopting the emission reduction technologies and practices needed to curb the methane escaping during the production, transport and delivery of natural gas is critical to unlock the full environmental potential of these vehicles. Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas released to the atmosphere at every step from production wells to the vehicle fuel tanks. Even small amounts of methane emitted across the natural gas supply chain can undermine the climate benefit of fuel-switching vehicles to natural gas for some period of time, as EDF research has shown.

A newly published scientific study, led by researchers with West Virginia University at the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions, measured methane emissions from heavy-duty natural gas-powered vehicles and refueling stations, and is greatly expanding what we know about emissions from natural gas-fueled vehicles. The study is the first project in EDF’s coordinated methane research series to analyze where and by how much methane emissions occur during natural gas end uses.

The WVU study found that emissions from the vehicle tailpipe and engine crankcase were the highest methane sources, representing roughly 30 and 39% (respectively) of total pump to wheels (PTW) emissions. Fortunately, engines with closed crankcases have recently been certified by EPA, avoiding the single largest source of methane emissions from these vehicles.

Fueling station methane emissions were reported to be relatively low, representing about 12% of total PTW emissions. WVU researchers based the fueling station emission estimates on the assumption that liquefied natural gas (LNG) stations have sufficient sales volume to effectively manage boil off gases, or the fuel lost as vapors when the LNG heats above its boiling point. Without alternative methods to manage boil off gas, low sales volume risks large methane releases.

Eleven industry groups participated in the WVU study – The American Gas Association, Chart, Clean Energy, Cummins, Cummins Westport, International Council on Clean Transportation, PepsiCo, Shell, Volvo Group, Waste Management, and Westport Innovations – and provided researchers with important insights. Their active involvement and determination to go where the science led them in reducing truck methane emissions greatly strengthened the study.

Measurements from the WVU study are helping to further our understanding of the climate impact of natural gas vehicles. This paper, along with other analyses, provides both industry and policymakers new insights to target technology improvements, and identify best practices for minimizing emissions. But pairing vehicle data with lifecycle emissions of methane across the entire supply chain remains essential to fully assess how natural gas trucks perform, from a climate perspective, relative to diesel trucks.

While only about 3 percent of heavy duty trucks run on natural gas today, some analysts suggest their market share could reach as high as 50 percent over the next two decades if high oil and diesel prices return. Meanwhile, investments in natural gas-powered utility vehicles and transit buses are growing, with 11 percent of such vehicles already running on natural gas.

As interest in natural gas vehicles grows, the time to get ahead of this methane supply chain leakage problem is now, before the industry hits a major growth spurt. Reducing methane leaks upstream of the vehicles themselves will be a key determinate in whether a shift in fuels will result in a positive or negative benefit for the climate.

Image source: Flickr/TruckPR

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By EDF Blogs

By Namrita Kapur, managing director, Corporate Partnerships

As President-elect Donald Trump puts together his fossil fuel-focused administration, the investment community is moving full speed in the opposite direction, instead putting their bets on emissions reductions and support for clean energy.

Some recent developments:

• Investors controlling more than $5 trillion in assets have committed to dropping some or all fossil fuel stocks from their portfolios, according to a new report tracking the trend.

• Climate change criteria shape the investment of $1.42 trillion in assets under management, a more than fivefold increase since 2014. Clean technology is now a consideration incorporated by money managers with $354 billion in assets under management.

• A recent government bidding process for a large wind farm outside New York State got so many offers the auction had to be extended for a day. The winning bidder was Statoil, an oil company with a growing renewable portfolio willing to pay $42 million, more than twice what the last round of Gulf oil leases generated.

• Microsoft-founder Bill Gates and nearly two dozen other business leaders just launched a new, $1-billion fund that will finance emerging energy innovations to deliver affordable and reliable energy. Breakthrough Energy Ventures’ goal is to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to near-zero levels.

Why is there so much momentum in the sector now, especially considering the proclivity of the incoming Trump administration for fossil fuels? Because of two short words that mean everything to investors: return and risk.

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With a record $1.4 trillion in sustainability assets, investors bail on fossil fuels
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Price of renewables is right

Although federal policy and the bias of government leaders have an important influence on return and risk, they are far from the only factors. The investment thesis for clean energy is clear.

Prices are dropping, making renewables not only competitive, but ushering in an era of undercutting fossil sources – even without subsidies. Solar energy, for example, is already the lowest-cost option in parts of the world and expected to beat out coal globally by 2025.

In addition, large consumers, looking to insulate themselves from volatility in electricity markets are locking into financially favorable, long-term renewable energy purchases.  Corporate power purchasing agreements, or PPAs, had their best year by far in Europe in 2016, totaling more than 1 gigawatt, up from about 400 megawatts in 2015.

Amid coal bankruptcies, investors play it safe

New risks have also cropped up to steer investor behavior.

There is hesitance to fund coal, in particular, as credit ratings have been deteriorating. At least seven coal producers with liabilities of $500 million or more have filed for bankruptcy in the United States since the start of 2014.

Credit downgrades have outnumbered upgrades among coal mining companies this year by about eight to one, Bloomberg data show. Such market realities are immune to politics.

“No turning back”

Besides wanting to address climate change and other risks in their portfolios, investors now seek to reap the rewards of a sector where revenues are outpacing costs and have become a clear value play.

As Pete Grannis, deputy controller at the $185-billion New York State public pension fund, said at an investor side event at the recent international climate talks in Marrakech, “The die has been cast, there is no turning back.”

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By Simi George

The New York Public Service Commission recently approved plans by National Grid, the largest distributor of natural gas in the Northeast, to use advanced leak detection and quantification technologies developed by EDF and Google Earth Outreach in order to maximize the environmental and ratepayer benefits of a three-year, $3 billion capital investment program. This program includes plans to replace 585 miles of old, leak-prone pipes on the company’s systems in Long Island and parts of New York City.

The Commission’s December 16 order marks a major step forward in EDF’s efforts to accelerate the diffusion of environmentally beneficial technologies – in this case cutting edge methane emission measurement tools – by natural gas utilities.

Speeding the Process

Typically, the adoption of new technologies starts gradually, led by a few visionary leaders. Over time, with the right market and regulatory conditions, the use of beneficial technologies spreads, leading eventually to adoption at a broader scale.

The typical technology diffusion curve representing the cumulative use of a new technology over time looks like this:

With the help of collaborators in the utility sector, along with our partners at Google Earth Outreach and Colorado State University, we’ve seen the industry move steadily along the technology diffusion curve toward the point at which best practice is adopted by a critical mass of utilities, before eventually becoming standard practice.

National Grid will consider methane emissions data drawn using advanced leak detection and quantification methods to identify and address the leakiest sections of its gas infrastructure first, which will reduce methane emissions much faster than otherwise possible. Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas, is a greenhouse gas, over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe.

The company also plans to develop the means to quantify methane emissions released from its system on an ongoing basis. National Grid is the first utility to make a commitment to using these new methods on an ongoing basis, and to explore integration of these methods into its operations at scale.

Collaboration & Incentives

The Public Service Commission also blessed National Grid’s plans to collaborate with EDF on a series of pilot projects aimed at reducing methane emissions from its distribution system in New York. In approving these pilot projects, the Commission noted:

“It is unique for proposed pilot programs to be predicated on goals that provide benefits to the utilities, their ratepayers, and the environment and to come at no cost to ratepayers. We commend the parties in agreeing on these programs and encourage them to begin collaborating immediately in an effort to implement the programs […] as soon as possible. We look forward to the results of these programs.”

Under the terms of the final order, National Grid will receive financial incentives for exceeding annual leak repair and pipe replacement targets. By connecting the utility’s leak abatement performance to its bottom line, the Commission has created a powerful impetus for the acceleration of its leak abatement and pipe replacement efforts – a framework that could serve as a model for other jurisdictions.

This order represents a new milestone in EDF’s advocacy efforts by creating a pathway for the integration of advanced leak detection and quantification methods into a major utility’s operations, building on other recent precedents advanced by EDF.

A Growing Trend

Utilities are required by law to monitor their systems for hazardous leaks, and fix them quickly. But hundreds of other leaks that are deemed non-hazardous can persist for months or years on end. Our collaborations with gas utilities, centered on the diffusion of new, beneficial technologies to minimize methane emissions, are moving the ball forward in the utility industry. By making it possible for gas utilities to identify and prioritize the leakiest sections of their infrastructure as part of leak abatement efforts, advanced leak detection and quantification technologies are delivering substantial environmental and ratepayer benefits.

In November 2015, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved plans by PSE&G, New Jersey’s largest utility, to use methane emissions data gathered by EDF to prioritize a $905 million, three-year pipe replacement program, making it the first utility to do so. This new approach allowed PSE&G to reduce as much as 83% of its methane emissions early while replacing one-third fewer miles of gas lines than under a business as usual scenario.

Earlier this year, EDF successfully completed a pilot project with Con Edison, another major New York utility, in which methane data gathered by EDF was used to identify and address the largest non-hazardous leaks on its system. Using the data, we found that more than half of the emissions could be eliminated by addressing the largest 18% of the leaks.

Other major utilities including CenterPoint Energy and Pacific Gas & Electric are independently exploring the integration of such technologies into their operations.

In the coming year, EDF will focus its efforts on facilitating further diffusion of advanced leak detection and quantification technologies in the utility sector to advance our overarching objective of minimizing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. This will take time, but we’re well on our way.

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