As a contribution to the Paris climate agreement, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York sets some tough targets for residents in terms of reducing the greenhouse gas emission levels within the city. The goal that has been set is to reduce emissions from government controlled activities by 80 percent by 2050. He also pledged to cut emissions from the city’s fleets by 50 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2035.
One agency that is not quite on the same page as the pledge is the Department of Sanitation. Their plans involve purchasing 340 new refuse trucks this year, with at least 300 being diesel powered. This will not help towards achieving the goals as set out by the Paris climate agreement. But, luckily, other actions are being taken in New York, including running many fleet vehicles on non-petroleum fuels which have contributed to a reduction of 11 percent in this area.
However, more focus needs to be on the heavy-duty vehicles within the city as they are the main source of fleet emissions. Although heavy-duty vehicles only make up around 20 percent of the fleet, they still account for more than 60 percent of their greenhouse gas emissions. Even though the city mandates that diesel is blended with biodiesel, it still won’t be enough to meet de Blasio’s targets.
One suggestion that has been brought forward in tackling the pollution issue of New York is by using renewable natural gas. It’s renewable and made from biogases emitted by decomposing organic waste, which is something New York has in abundance. Statistics from the California Air Resources Board stated that natural gas is the lowest carbon fuel there is. This is due to the fact that renewable natural gas captures gasses such as methane and prevents them from escaping into the atmosphere and instead burns them for fuel.
Some cities have already adapted to these methods such as in Sacramento and South San Francisco, California, and Grand Junction, Colorado. They all produce renewable natural gas from local waste sources and use it to power vehicles such as refuse trucks. Other places have been using this fuel in transit buses, including Orange County, Long Beach, and Santa Monica. As well as that, Santa Monica has also added 100 near zero natural gas engines to its existing fleet to reduce harmful emissions in the area. These engines have been certified by the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board for their ability to radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This could be a great way for New York to reduce their emissions too as New Yorkers generate almost two million tons of organic waste per year. By using this waste to produce renewable natural gas, the city could run their entire heavy-duty fleet on it which would contribute massively to meeting the zero waste targets and reducing waste at landfills. The city has taken more measures towards using the gas by developing digesters at the Newtown Creek wastewater plant in Brooklyn and the American Organic Energy Facility on Long Island.
The Sanitation Department was the first sanitation agency to purchase natural gas trucks and now has 42 included as part of its fleet. However, to change all 2,100 trucks to run on the same fuel would cost around $100 million more than buying brand new diesel vehicles. If they were to do this, the sanitation fleet’s emissions would drop by as much as 80 percent and also 25 percent of the city’s total fleet emissions. But, whether we will see this investment in the next few years is yet to be determined.
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