CALStart has announced the formation of a Natural Gas Vehicles Purchasing Cooperative (NGV Co-op). With prices for natural gas hovering in the range of $2 /gallon equivalent, this development is indeed a welcome one for fleets and drivers alike.

The purpose of the NGV co-op is to provide fleet managers with the information necessary to identify, locate, and purchase a wide range of light, medium, and select heavy-duty natural gas vehicles. Currently, the NGV Co-Op is available only in Arizona, Nevada, and California but may expand at a later date.

Many Northeast Ohio communities are rich in natural gas wells. Though sometimes unsightly, these wells could prove to be a boon to both transportation economics and dramatic improvements in air quality, especially in regards to fine particle pollution, for which our region is non-attainment as defined by the US EPA. In addition, natural gas (methane) is now considered a renewable fuel by the US EPA as it can be produced through anaerobic digestion of organic waste, which includes food, animal, and human wastes. The largest methane recapture project in Ohio is taking place at the SWACO landfill near Columbus where landfill gas is being cleaned, with technology provided by Cleveland based Acrion, to provide cleanly powered electrictiy production as well as CNG to power on site refuse trucks.

In short, an NGV co-op in Ohio would provide fleet managers with the information to accelerate the use of this clean burning fuel in the transportation sector.

For more information on the CALSTART NGV Co-op, please download the two page (55K pdf) press release.