The federal government’s latest National Inventory Report, released in April 2023, confirms Canada’s progress in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But looking ahead to 2030, it’s clear we need to accelerate the scale and pace of action to continue to achieve our targets.1
The largest source of GHG emissions in Ontario is transportation.2 There are about 12 million vehicles in the province today3 and each year, moving people and goods consumes about 1,000 petajoules of refined petroleum product and emits 58 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.4 With energy demand rising, it’s imperative to manage our emissions while providing cleaner, reliable energy.
The good news is that the technologies needed to reduce GHG emissions from transportation are currently available, scalable and affordable.
Canada is already seeing a slow but steady market shift to electric power for lighter passenger vehicles. But what about heavy-duty trucks, which can’t be readily electrified today? What about high-mileage fleets such as snow plows, transport trucks, waste trucks, emergency vehicles and delivery trucks?
Here’s a proven pathway to lowering emissions for these vehicles:
1. The bridge to cleaner: compressed natural gas (CNG)
CNG is the same fuel we use today to heat homes, compressed to less than one percent of its volume so it’s suitable to fuel fleets.
CNG can be used in light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. With 20 percent lower GHG emissions, CNG can help meet sustainability goals. Compared to diesel and gasoline, CNG vehicles also save up to 50 percent a year on fuel costs and eliminate the maintenance costs and downtime associated with diesel exhaust fluid (DEF)-based emissions control systems.
There’s a well-established network of CNG fuelling stations along the 401 corridor and all the way to California for fast, easy, convenient refuelling. This network is continuing to grow, with additional stations planned for Northern Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada.
Success story: United Parcel Service (UPS) London, Ontario
In partnership with Enbridge Gas, UPS converted 25 package delivery vans to operate on CNG. Fuelling with CNG significantly reduces local air pollutants— about 700 tonnes of GHG emissions. This is equivalent to planting 11,667 trees, removing 152 cars from the road and recycling 281 tonnes of landfill waste.
“CNG is an important part of UPS’s strategy to increase its use of alternative fuel and reduce our emissions. As a transportation company, we have a responsibility to put sustainability at the core of our operations and adding these new vehicles to our growing alternative fuel fleet in Canada will have a measurable impact,” said Floyd Bristol, Vice President of Automotive, UPS Canada.
2. Next level: carbon-neutral renewable natural gas (RNG)
Once vehicles are replaced or converted to CNG, they can easily use RNG, a carbon-neutral fuel that helps fight climate change. RNG can be created by capturing emissions from a wide variety of sources, including organic landfill waste, wastewater treatment plants and agricultural waste. Once collected, it’s upgraded into pipeline-quality gas.
The RNG process reduces GHG emission twofold: first, by capturing methane that otherwise would be released from decomposing waste into the atmosphere, and second, by displacing the need to use other carbon-intense energy sources and using clean, renewable energy instead (sometimes referred to as ‘avoided emissions’).
RNG can help with compliance to Canada’s new Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR), which came into effect July 1, 2023 and aim to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels and promote cleaner fuel alternatives.
With a comparable range and performance to diesel vehicles, even in extreme cold, converting to RNG-fuelled vehicles can be more cost effective than electric. An RNG transit bus is about half the price of an electric bus and just slightly more than a diesel bus, but with lower emissions. RNG is exempt from the federal carbon charge, which can mitigate volatile fuel cost increases. It also utilizes existing natural gas infrastructure.
RNG also helps divert waste from landfills, making it part of a ‘circular economy’ approach to waste management. As Ontario’s landfill capacity is expected to run out by 2032,5 RNG offers an immediate solution to reducing waste.
Success story: Bluewater Recycling Association (BRA) Southwestern Ontario
BRA collaborated with Enbridge Gas to develop Ontario’s first carbon-negative waste truck. The truck runs on RNG, largely made from cow manure produced at a local farm. In just six months, the BRA truck will eliminate emissions from 18,000 litres of diesel.
The truck’s fuel diverts more carbon dioxide than it emits: turning manure into RNG captures methane that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere, diverting farm waste and supporting local economic development. The RNG is also used in place of diesel fuel, which further reduces emissions.
“Having a clean, renewable and local source of energy for our fleet embodies everything BRA believes in,” said Francis Veilleux, President, BRA.
To learn more about lower-carbon fuels, visit enbridgegas.com/rng.
Sources:
3. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=2310006701&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.7&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2015&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=
2019&referencePeriods=20150101%2C20190101
