Energy Vision, “Waste to Wheels:
Building for Success,” June 2011

Every year, U.S. homes and institutions throw away enough garbage, yard trimmings, farm residues, and other organic waste to make renewable natural gas, a clean, petroleum-free fuel that could power millions of the nation’s trucks and buses. This report, written by Energy Vision, a national non-profit organization, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven and Argonne national laboratories, discusses the characteristics of this waste-based fuel. Much cleaner than petroleum fuels, it is chemically similar to conventional natural gas and can be blended with it or used to replace it. Because this fuel is made by processing the waste gases, it is called renewable natural gas, referred to as "RNG" or "biomethane."