Canada’s Enbridge to drive RNG for waste collection

Ontario natural gas distributor Enbridge Gas said April 12 it would work with the Ontario Waste Management Association in a province-wide pilot project to use renewable natural gas (RNG) to fuel waste collection vehicles.

Ontario’s fleet of 3,650 waste collection and haulage vehicles consumes about 130mn litres/year of diesel fuel. An “ambitious agenda” to increase RNG to fuel this fleet could result in a “significant” annual reduction of 440,000 mt/yr of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – about the equivalent of removing 100,000 vehicles from the province’s roads.

The pilot project will allow RNG-fuelled vehicles to attain near-zero emissions and existing fleets to collectively reduce GHG emissions by about 56,000 mt/yr – the equivalent of removing 12,000 passenger cars from the road.

“Renewable natural gas is now playing a role in Ontario’s shift to lower–carbon, sustainable energy solutions,” said Malini Giridhar, vice president, business development & regulatory at Enbridge Gas. “It is an important example of the investments Enbridge Gas is making across multiple markets to green the natural gas grid, while continuing to meet the demand for safe, reliable and affordable energy.”

Bruce Winchester, executive director of the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance (CNGVA), said natural gas-fuelled vehicles are already lowering emissions in the waste collection sector in Ontario, with 600 trucks collectively reducing 90% of combustion emissions.

“In addition, these vehicles are also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 10,000 mt/yr – equivalent to removing 2,000 cars from Ontario’s roads,” he said. “This industry is already leading in emissions reductions and is poised to support further emissions reductions across the commercial transportation sector.”