Jul 07, 2009 11:33 ET
New Emisstar Study Shows Natural Gas Vehicle Financial Incentive Programs Contribute Significantly to Success of Fleet Emission Reduction Efforts
BAYPORT, N.Y. --(Business Wire)-- Jul 07, 2009
Regional and local governments and private fleets operating in the New
York Metropolitan area are facing mounting pressures to address harmful
air contaminants and greenhouse gas emissions, especially those from
mobile sources such as diesel-powered trucks, transit buses,
utility/contractor and delivery vehicles.
But progress toward reducing emissions by switching to clean-burning
natural gas vehicles (NGVs) is gaining strength, according to a new
research report published today by Emisstar LLC. The study authors
attribute much of the progress achieved to NGV financial incentive
programs adopted by municipal planning or air quality agencies.
Emisstar Principal Glenn Goldstein said, “Our aim with this study was to
analyze existing incentive-based emissions reduction approaches
nationwide, and to recommend how a regional NGV financial incentive
program could be developed and implemented in the New York area.” The
Emisstar report was commissioned by NGV America, a national organization
dedicated to the development of a growing, sustainable and profitable
market for vehicles powered by natural gas or hydrogen.
Remarking on the study, NGV America President Rich Kolodziej, said,
“Municipalities and agencies throughout the New York region are working
hard to comply with evolving emissions reduction mandates, and are
actively seeking ways to cost-effectively replace their aging diesel
vehicle fleets with alternative-fueled models.”
Kolodziej cited the New York townships of Smithtown and Brookhaven as
examples of local municipalities that have implemented a 100-percent
natural gas fuel standard for their contracted refuse hauling fleets, in
cooperation with project partners Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq:
CLNE) and National Grid (LSE:NG, NYSE: NGG). “In both cases, financial
grants, subsidies and rebates for natural gas vehicle purchases were
major factors in the success of the towns’ fleet emission reduction
efforts.”
In the New York region, Emisstar reports that there is a large,
currently unsatisfied demand for alternative-fueled vehicles.
“Addressing this $90 million backlog by replacing diesel vehicles with
NGVs would dramatically curtail harmful emissions. With this approach,
we estimate that total reduction of air contaminants would approach
6,000 tons annually.”
The Emisstar report suggests a specific framework for a regional natural
gas program that would offer incentives for the replacement of Class 6
through Class 8 diesel-fueled vehicles with new vehicles powered by
natural gas. The report provides detailed recommendations regarding
administrative processes and program criteria including vehicle
eligibility, scrapping requirements, funding sources and thresholds
based on emissions reduced.
The recommendations were based upon extensive interviews of stakeholders
in the public and private sector, as well as an analysis of existing
emission reduction incentive programs, including the Texas Emissions
Reduction Plan and California’s Carl Moyer Air Quality Standards
Attainment Program.
“The study results demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a
voluntary natural gas vehicle incentive program that is attractive to
business and public interest alike,” Goldstein concluded.
The Emisstar Natural Gas Vehicle Incentive Program Report is available
for downloading at no charge at www.emisstar.com.
Emisstar LLC is an independent consulting practice that focuses on
energy and mobile emissions policy, technology and implementation for
the low carbon economy.
National Grid is an international energy delivery company. In the
U.S., National Grid delivers electricity to approximately 3.3 million
customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island,
and manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement
with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). It is the largest
distributor of natural gas in the northeastern U.S., serving
approximately 3.4 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
York and Rhode Island. National Grid also owns over 4,000 megawatts of
contracted electricity generation that provides power to over one
million LIPA customers.
Clean Energy (Nasdaq: CLNE) is the leading provider of natural
gas (CNG and LNG) for transportation in North America. It has a broad
customer base in the refuse, transit, ports, shuttle, taxi, trucking,
airport and municipal fleet markets, fueling more than 17,200 vehicles
at 184 strategic locations across the United States and Canada. Clean
Energy owns and operates two LNG production plants, one in Willis, TX
and one in Boron, CA, with combined capacity of 260,000 LNG gallons per
day and designed to expand to 340,000 LNG gallons per day as demand
increases. It also owns and operates a landfill gas facility in Dallas,
TX that produces renewable methane gas or biogas for delivery in the
nation’s gas pipeline network. Please visit www.cleanenergyfuels.com
Emisstar
Glenn Goldstein, 631-419-6017
Glenn.goldstein@emisstar.com
or
National
Grid
Elizabeth Margulies, 516-545-5052
Elizabeth.margulies@us.ngrid.com