Clean Energy Fuels Corp., Newport Beach, California, announced that the city of Santa Monica has awarded Clean Energy a multiyear liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract to fuel its Big Blue Bus (BBB) fleet of vehicles. The 5-year deal, worth an estimated $3 million per year, will enable BBB to continue using Clean Energy’s Redeem brand of renewable natural gas (RNG), rated up to 90 percent cleaner than diesel and considered the cleanest transportation fuel available. BBB began using Redeem by Clean Energy in January 2015.
Redeem is a renewable natural gas vehicle fuel, often referred to as biomethane, that is derived from the decomposition of organic waste. The methane produced by this decomposition is processed, purified, sent into the interstate natural gas pipeline and made available exclusively to Clean Energy customers. Redeem biomethane vehicle fuel is procured from biomethane production facilities, including two owned and operated by Clean Energy.
BBB will also incorporate the new Cummins-Westport (CWI) 8.9L ISL G Near-Zero 0.02 NOx engine, the first mid-range engine in North America to receive emission certifications from both EPA and Air Resources Board (ARB) in California that meet the 0.02 g/bhp-hr optional Near Zero NOx Emissions standards, according to the company.
Big Blue Bus, which includes 200 natural gas buses, plans to replace over 100 of their existing bus engines with the Near-Zero natural gas engine over a three-year period. When the transition is complete, BBB is expected to have reduced their NOx emissions by over 90 percent and their GHG emissions by 8,000 metric tons, annually. Introduced by CWI earlier this year, the new Cummins ISL G 8.9L Near Zero 0.02 NOx engine is designed for medium-duty truck, urban bus, school bus and refuse applications and is available on the market today. Cummins-Westport plans to begin delivering an 11.9L version that is also EPA and ARB certified for the heavy-duty trucking industry in 2018.
“The City of Santa Monica has a deep commitment to the people and environment in our community. By combining the environmental benefits of RNG with the technological advances of this engine, we are proud to say that we are in fact, one of the cleanest transit agencies in the nation,” says Ed King, BBB’s director of transit.
