By Mark Hairr, CAPP
As with many mobility and transportation agencies, Wave Transit in Wilmington, North Carolina has a strong commitment to sustainability initiatives by working to grow ridership, reducing dependence on automobiles, limiting emissions, and minimizing our carbon footprint. Recently, Wave implemented a program that takes advantage of our use of Compress Natural Gas (CNG) for fueling buses by producing monthly revenue through a unique program. CNG has low amounts of nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide while being an average of 33% less than diesel.
This particular program falls under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewal Fuels Standards (RFS) which links our dispensing of CNG with the production of renewable natural gas elsewhere in the United States. This program is centered on credits known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) that verify that renewable fuel was used as a transportation fuel. Renewable fuel producers generate RINs by producing a gallon (or gallon equivalent) of renewable fuel such compressed natural gas. A commodities company has been engaged by Wave and they combine production and dispensing data to generate RINs which are sold to obligated parties and then Wave receives a monthly payment for a negotiated percentage of the RIN sale. No changes were required with any CNG fueling equipment and processes as this program allows Wave to continue fueling as we have in the past. The program does require documentation and reporting to ensure compliance with the EPA requirements, but the significant financial and sustainability benefits have come with minimal additional effort so this program has been extremely well received.
Mark Hairr, CAPP, is an Executive Director for Wave Transit. Mark can be reached at mhairr@wavetransit.com.