LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California
Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today applauded the U.S. Green Building Council
(USGBC) for including use of renewable natural gas (RNG) in the
latest beta version of its LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) green building rating system. RNG is a
low-carbon fuel produced from waste that can be used just like
traditional natural gas. With the new system, a project may utilize
RNG to earn LEED points by capturing and using biogas on site,
sourcing biogas from a third party, or by purchasing biogas to
store in the project's own storage system. The RNG can be used for
heating, hot water and cooking in commercial buildings, and for
stoves, clothes dryers, water heaters, fireplaces and heating in
homes. The number of LEED points determines the level of LEED
certification the project can achieve.
"Renewable natural gas is the only renewable energy source that
can be carbon negative and can be used in all the same ways as
traditional natural gas. RNG essentially recycles waste,
eliminating greenhouse gas emissions produced by that waste, and
putting it to good use," said Jawaad
Malik, vice president, strategy and sustainability, and
chief environmental officer for SoCalGas. "RNG is a highly
efficient way to decarbonize buildings and allows home and
commercial building owners to use a green fuel while still using
gas appliances, which is often the preferred solution. SoCalGas'
investment in both RNG and hydrogen will play a key role in helping
California meet its environmental
goals."
LEED, a certification program created by USGBC, provides a
framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green
buildings and is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability
achievement and leadership. Projects pursuing LEED certification
earn points for various green building strategies across several
categories and based on the number of points achieved, a project
earns one of four LEED rating levels.
"Renewable natural gas is a viable path whereby buildings can
achieve meaningful environmental and sustainability goals," said
Johannes Escudero, chief executive
officer for RNG Coalition. "The manifold benefits of RNG are proven
and deserve to be recognized as part of the U.S. Green Building
Council's framework for healthy, highly-efficient and cost-saving,
green buildings. We look forward to seeing increased use of RNG in
buildings nationwide."
"We are very pleased that the U.S. Green Building Council has
recognized renewable natural gas in its latest LEED green building
standards," said Julia Levin,
executive director of the Bioenergy Association of
California. "RNG can provide the lowest carbon fuel of any
kind, it can replace diesel in backup generators, and it makes
local communities more resilient since RNG is available even when
the electricity grid is down."
SoCalGas is working to make RNG available to fuel the homes of
the company's nearly 22 million customers across Central and
Southern California, asking the
CPUC to authorize SoCalGas customers the option to purchase RNG and
use it as part of their natural gas service. The California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC) is expected to rule on whether to
approve the service this month. In 2019, SoCalGas announced its
vision to be the cleanest gas utility in North America and committed to delivering five
percent renewable gas to homes and businesses by 2022 and 20% by
2030.
Investment in RNG is growing nationally. Oregon recently enacted legislation allowing
its natural gas utilities to purchase RNG on behalf it its
customers, with the goal of replacing 15% of traditional natural
gas with RNG by 2030. Virginia-based Dominion Energy has committed
to investing in enough RNG projects to make its gas infrastructure
net-zero carbon by 2040. In 20 years, enough RNG could be
available in the U.S. to replace about 90% of the nation's current
residential natural gas consumption, according to a recent study by
ICF. Currently, natural gas utilities in Oregon, Utah,
Vermont, Maine and Michigan provide RNG to homeowners.
In California, where SoCalGas
operates, agriculture and organic waste from farms, landfills, or
wastewater treatment plants account for about 80% of methane
emissions, and in 2016 the state passed a law requiring a 40%
reduction of methane emissions from waste sources, with provisions
to deliver that energy to customers. This year, California passed legislation that
significantly expands the definition of renewable natural gas to
include energy from additional forms of organic waste, such as dead
trees, agricultural waste and vegetation removed for wildfire
mitigation. The new law is expected to increase supplies of RNG and
help turn the state's organic waste problem into an affordable, and
renewable energy solution.
Production of RNG from dairies is already accelerating in
California. In just the next three
and a half years, at least 160 RNG production facilities will be
online in California to serve the
transportation fuel sector, producing more than 15.8 million therms
of carbon-negative RNG every year and replacing about 119 million
gallons of diesel fuel. That's enough to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by over 3.4 million tons every year, the equivalent
of taking more than 730,000 cars off the road.
About SoCalGas
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is
the largest gas distribution
utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers
affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service
to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of
Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of
residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying
clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's
pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to
Californians— about 45 percent of electric power
generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants.
SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest gas utility
in North America, delivering affordable and increasingly
renewable energy to its customers. In support of that vision,
SoCalGas is committed to helping homes and businesses decarbonize
their energy usage by delivering 5% renewable gas by 2022 and 20%
by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by
dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is
also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure
while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2015 through
2019, the company invested nearly $7 billion to upgrade
and modernize its pipeline system to enhance safety and
reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra
Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based
in San Diego. For more information
visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas
on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas)
and Facebook.
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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company