EV Workshop for NJ communities and waste haulers on benefits of natural gas trucks
Speeding the shift to cleaner CNG refuse trucks in New Jersey
Gray sky and pouring rain did not stop municipal officials and refuse fleet operators from turning out for the workshop hosted by Energy Vision and the New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition on September 30th at the Bayshore Recycling Facility in Keasbey, NJ, The 65 attendees got the “facts” about the expanding number of communities that are replacing their diesel refuse trucks with natural gas trucks and why.
In her opening remarks, EV President Joanna Underwood (left), pointed to the surge of interest in natural gas bus and truck fleets in NJ, going from just a handful two years ago to the 287 new CNG refuse trucks and buses ordered in 2009 and 10, and her hope that this workshop would encourage further progress.
New Interest by NJ Leaders
Michele Siekerka (right), the new Assistant Commissioner of Economic Growth and Green Energy at the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, who spoke next, increased the positive mood underlining the interest of New Jersey’s new Administration in supporting clean energy and fuels projects creating new jobs for New Jerseyans.
Municipal Perspectives
“The only person in our town who railed against our 22 new natural gas trucks,” according to Russell Barnett, Director of Environment in Smithtown, NY, who put the first 100% natural gas refuse fleet on the East Coast into operation, and who was the first speaker on EV’s Municipal Viewpoints panel, “was one resident who kept missing the garbage pickups because he couldn’t hear the trucks coming. They were so quiet.” “Other than that," he said, “the trucks have saved the town money because of the guaranteed low price of natural gas fuel. They have reduced air pollution significantly. (Click here to see Russell Barnett's PowerPoint presentation)
These results lead Smithtown to also buy only CNG snow plows, dump trucks, and Honda Civics. Rich Balgowan, from Hamilton Township, the second speaker, had a similar story regarding the performance of the first 100% natural gas fleet in New Jersey launched in 2009 by Central Jersey Waste. Then Gary Conover, Manager of Atlantic County Utilities Authority, described the unveiling of its first 5 CNG refuse trucks (15 more to go) serving the town of Egg Harbor, and the 191 Jitney buses now being replaced in Atlantic City. (Click here to see Gary Conover's PowerPoint presentation)
Evolving Technology
In the second session, on technology, Dave Lynch (right), a retired Cummins Westport executive, gave an animated discussion of how the heavy duty natural gas engine has gradually evolved over the last 20 years into a high performance engine that meets the 2010 Environmental Protection Agency standards without need for the complex expensive pollution reducing “urea” systems that new diesel trucks have to use. (Click here to see David Lynch's PowerPoint presentation)
With a “winning” engine and fuel, said Mike Cecere from Clean Energy, which built the refueling stations for all of these fleets and assisted communities in their application for funds to support the shift, “the elements are in place for an acceleration of this trend.” (Click here to see Mike Cecere's PowerPoint presentation)
Robert Simkins, Director of Burlington County Resource Recovery Complex, spoke about models for the production and utilization of biomethane at landfills and transfer stations. (Click here to see Robert Simkins' presentation.)
Waste-to-Fuel: A Sustainable Solution
The final session was a roundtable discussion of “Biomethane,” moderated by EV Vice President for Programs Gail Richardson (left). It gave attendees a vision of the sustainable end goal to which fleet conversions to natural gas might lead – a move from the “fossil” natural gas that must be drilled for underground to a renewable form of natural gas that can be made from the methane gases created when organic wastes of all kinds break down. “From the 1,600 large landfills overseen by the US EPA, the 16,500 sewage treatment plants and the thousands of agricultural and dairy operations,” she said, “it is possible that 25% or more of all the diesel fuel used could be displaced. Since the 10 million heavy duty trucks and buses in the US consume 23% of all on-road transportation fuel – and virtually all of these can be converted to or replaced by natural gas or biomethane models – the reduction in US reliance on foreign oil would be huge.” (Click here to see of Gail Richardson's presentation) (Click here to see EV's Biomethane Fact Sheet)
Valerie Montecalvo, President of Bayshore Recycling, which generously provided its facility for the workshop, thanked attendees for coming and described Bayshore's recycling programs which have won several awards.
Chuck Feinberg, of NJCCC, added a surprise piece of good news at the end of the workshop: that another $200,000 in funds from the Obama’s Stimulus program, were still available for NJ alternative fuels initiatives for those applying for projects before the end of 2010. (And within weeks after the event, two more waste hauling fleets applied to replace 21 of their diesel trucks!) Click here to see Chuck Feinberg's presentation.