UGI Serves the Community and Customers with Renewable Natural Gas
Reducing net carbon emissions while meeting supply needs is a top priority for natural gas utilities. Companies are realizing that goal every day through advancing technology and driving innovation, such as renewable natural gas. RNG is one of the many innovative solutions that will help lead our nation to a cleaner energy future. With a recent interconnect agreement between UGI Utilities, Inc. (UGI Utilities) and Archaea Energy, UGI Utilities will deliver more than 5.3 billion cubic feet of RNG supply produced from the Keystone Landfill in Dunmore, PA. This will make it the largest RNG supply point in the United States, and it gives UGI Utilities’ customers the opportunity to purchase more renewable fuel.
What is Renewable Natural Gas?
Renewable natural gas is any pipeline compatible gaseous fuel derived from biogenic or other renewable sources that have lower lifecycle CO2e emissions than geological natural gas. Most of today’s RNG comes from emissions from waste streams found in landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and animal manure.
RNG can also be produced using renewable electricity. The electricity powers an electrolyzer that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. Once they’re split, hydrogen can be captured, stored and used, or combined with a source of carbon to produce RNG. It’s a sustainable and reliable energy source that’s highly compatible with existing infrastructure when blended with natural gas, and it can be used in the same manner as natural gas use for residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation customers.
RNG Helps the Environment and Customers
Including RNG into the UGI Utilities distribution system benefits the environment and the community by lowering net carbon emissions. It’s predicted that this project will reduce CO2 emissions by an amount equivalent to removing 67,000 passenger vehicles over a calendar year.
Pennsylvania’s Public Utility Commissioners Ralph V. Yanora and John F. Coleman, Jr. commended UGI Utilities for the initiative as it “represents an innovative economic model that balances environmental, customer, and gas supply requirements consistent with the Commonwealth’s least-cost gas supply requirements.”
By including RNG with natural gas, UGI Utilities will help lower carbon emissions without compromising their ability to provide quality energy to customers.
You can read the full press release from UGI Utilities here.