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CALGARY — Tourmaline Oil Corp. says it is partnering with California-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. to build and operate a network of compressed natural gas (CNG) fuelling stations along highway corridors in Western Canada.
The $70-million joint investment will see the two companies commission up to 20 CNG stations over the next five years.
The move will allow heavy-duty trucks and other commercial transportation fleets to transition to using CNG, which is a lower-carbon alternative to diesel and gasoline.
The first station under the agreement is located north of Edmonton and is already operational.
One of North America's largest logistics companies, Mullen Group Ltd., has already indicated it plans to use the network of stations for its growing fleet of CNG-powered trucks.
Natural gas-powered vehicles emit 20 per cent less carbon dioxide than diesel vehicles. Converting one truck to CNG from diesel is the equivalent of taking up to five passenger vehicles off the road.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2023.
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Sounds good, but is it really
Sounds good, but is it really? Any better minds know what the press release doesn't explain?
Sounds pretty terrible to me.
Sounds pretty terrible to me. So like, yeah, natural gas (AKA methane) gives off somewhat fewer CO2 emissions than gasoline or diesel when burned. But it's still a fossil fuel and still gives off plenty so this is still putting off real action. Worse, that "when burned" part is important--see, if there's a spill of diesel, or leak, or seepage, it pollutes things a bit in the local area, which is bad, but nothing much global happens. But if you have a new network of natural gas pipelines, you have a new network of methane leaks, releasing a gas into the atmosphere that is a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, especially in the short term. So it really isn't any better than gasoline, and maybe worse.
And if there's one thing we don't need right now, it's building yet more fossil fuel infrastructure to lock in the use of fossil fuels harder.
Bottom line, we should be electrifying those trucks not switching them to natural gas, and above all we should be doing less truck transport and more rail transport (and electrifying the rail transport). This is a bleedin' terrible idea and I really hope it fails miserably.
Agreed. This is a terrible
Agreed. This is a terrible idea and should be nixed right now.
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