A new report authored by Washington D.C.-based Bates White Economic Consulting forecasts that demand for renewable natural gas (RNG or biomethane) fuel in the U.S. transportation sector will continue growing rapidly over the next five years, and that RNG industry production will keep pace. The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) presented the report, entitled “Renewable Natural Gas Supply and Demand for Transportation,” to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in a May 16th meeting.
The Bates White study examined current market conditions and a series of demand and supply projections for RNG as a transportation fuel in the U.S.. The report predicts that RNG will continue its significant growth trajectory as a cellulosic biofuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which saw RNG’s use in transportation grow to more than 300 million ethanol gallon equivalents (EGE) last year.
“Renewable natural gas production more than doubled from 2015 through 2018 under the Renewable Fuel Standard, growing by an annual average of 30 percent,” said Johannes Escudero, RNG Coalition CEO. “Keeping up this recent rate of growth, the RNG industry would reach one billion gallons of annual production of RNG transportation fuel in 2022.”
More than 120 representatives from 80 companies across the RNG industry gathered last week in Washington D.C. as part of the 2019 RNG SUMMIT, which included 74 meetings with federal lawmakers to share the report’s findings and to communicate the importance of continuing to develop and grow the U.S.’ domestic supply of RNG as a clean energy and renewable fuel.
“Growing domestic supply of renewable natural gas is a win-win for both urban and rural areas,” said David Cox, Director of Operations for the RNG Coalition. “In addition to RNG’s clean air benefits, new RNG development means local construction jobs, ongoing operations and engineering jobs, and millions of dollars invested in communities across the country.”
Among other key results, the report asserts that substantial technical potential remains for increased production of RNG, including potential for 5,000 million ethanol gallon equivalents (EGE) annually from landfills and 2,200 million annual EGE of RNG from dairy and swine agriculture. Access the full report on the RNG Coalition’s website:http://www.rngcoalition.com/data-resources-2.