Fuel made from waste goes on sale in California

Clean Energy has become the first commercial distributor of fuel made entirely from waste.

The largest provider of natural gas for transportation will offer drivers a new type of fuel, dubbed Redeem, which is made from waste streams including landfills, large dairies and sewage plants. The fuel will be available at 35 stations in California to begin with.

Clean Energy says that the fuel is up to 90 percent cleaner than diesel and completely renewable. The fuel, biomethane, is derived from biogenic methane or biogas -- the gas extracted from organic waste. This gas is then captured and the methane gas is processed, purified and sent into natural gas pipelines.

Andrew J. Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy said:

"It's a landmark day for Clean Energy as the first company to make this revolutionary and renewable transportation fuel made from waste available to our customers. Our goal is to produce and distribute 15 million gallons of Redeem in our first year which can make significant progress towards achieving California's climate change goals and show that this is a viable, cleaner and abundant alternative fuel source for our future."

Renewable natural gas fuels have not been readily available in the United States until now. Methane's rise could be placed at the feet of natural gas drilling, which is slowly providing a source of energy away from fossil fuels like oil.

According to California Air Resource Board estimates, a fleet that consumes 1,000,000 gallons of gasoline per year can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 9,700 metric tons by using Redeem -- which is the equivalent of taking 1,940 passenger cars off the road per year.

Via: Clean Energy

Image credit: Flickr

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com