Sacramento County, California’s, liquefied natural gas trucks will be filling up with the advanced biofuel known as renewable liquefied natural gas (RLNG) at a significant discount with a multi-year contract with Applied LNG, Westlake Village, California.

“We are extremely proud that Sacramento County is diversifying its fleet fuel portfolio with 100 percent renewable LNG as part of the broader effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” says Phil Serna, county supervisor for District 1 and member of the California Air Resources Board. “This brings our renewable fuel consumption for our entire fleet to more than 50 percent.”

“We have 60 vehicles that consume more than a million gallons of LNG fuel a year,” says Keith Leech, Sacramento County chief of fleet services division. “Converting to renewable LNG will go a long way in reducing our carbon footprint as well as saving the county money. The county was an early adopter of liquefied natural gas in our refuse trucks (2001) and this contract should save a substantial amount of money for us annually.”

Applied’s renewable LNG is produced by BP Energy, Irvine, California, from biomethane extracted from a landfill. This biomethane is combusted as renewable gas resulting in greenhouse gas releases that are approximately 21 times less potent than methane released directly into the atmosphere. The use of renewable LNG represents the recycling of carbon that is already circulating in the environment, whereas burning fossil LNG represents the release of new carbon emissions that were previously isolated in the earth.

“Our ability to produce this LNG from renewable sources of natural gas makes it a compelling choice as one of America’s sustainable energy sources. This embodies the Applied LNG mission to provide cleaner, affordable and domestically produced fuel solutions as an alternative to the more conventional petroleum-based products such as diesel, gasoline or propane,” says Applied LNG President and CEO Ed McKenna.