NGVA Europe keeps you informed!

15/05/2012 - Growing industry commitment to NGVs – Westport and Swagelok also request to join NGVA Europe’s Board of Directorsmore

30/04/2012 - EP plenary supports extension of tax benefits for natural gas and biomethane as a transport fuelmore

26/04/2012 - Linde, Bohlen & Doyen and Gasrec request to take seats on NGVA Europe’s Board of Directorsmore

28/03/2012 - Final GasHighWay Seminar in Brussels proved to be true successmore

13/03/2012 - Energy Taxation proposal strongly debated in parliament and changes requested - low taxes for the next 10 years, and up to 50% energy tax relief on Natural Gas from 2023 until 2030more

11/03/2012 - Green Gas Grids: NGVA europe participates in new EU project to boost the biomethane marketmore

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Successful breakfast roundtable on Bio Natural Gas Vehicles in European Parliament

NGVA Europe together with its Board member Erdgas Mobil and their host MEP Joachim Zeller successfully organised a breakfast roundtable for several MEPs in European Parliament on 9th December. NGVA Europe General Manager, Manuel Lage, informed the present Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on the sustainability potential of Bio Natural Gas Vehicles, which can substantially contribute to Europe’s protection of the environment and climate. MEP Matthias Groote (S&D) said: "I am a fan of CNG vehilces".

The breakfast roundtable was hosted by MEP Joachim Zeller (EPP), i.a. member of the Transport Committee and the Delegation to EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. Before joining the European Parliament (EP), Joachim Zeller was mayor of central Berlin (Berlin Mitte). The German capital already has some 1000 CNG taxis in operation and uses a mix of 80 % NG and 20% biomethane in transport. "It is very important to give more attention to Bio Natural Gas vehicles", Joachim Zeller said when welcoming his colleagues.

In his presenation NGVA Europe General Manager, Manuel Lage, pointed out that despite all public attention to electric vehicles we should not miss that there is an ecological and economical viable transport technology already available today: The natural gas/biomethane combustion engine.


NGVA Europe with MEPs and representatives of the Fiat delegation to Europe	MEP Zeller hosts roundtable discussion on NGVs

Future mobility has to be clean, sustainable and affordable. Furthermore, the traffic sector has to reduce its high dependency on oil. CNG compressed natural gas and biomethane) can make an important contribution to the solution of these political challenges.
Manuel_Lage_and_MEP_Zeller
NG is currently the cleanest and real alternative fuel, achieving a CO2 reduction of 25% compared to petrol and up to 10 % compared to diesel. The gas is either ‘natural gas’ or ‘biomethane’, which is biogas upgraded to the same quality level as natural gas and is being produced rom renewable or recyclable resources like waste, manure, sewage sludge, crops or forestry biomass. Biomethane injected into the European natural gas grid is the most efficient way to distribute it from rural production sites to CNG filling stations. On the other hand Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) offers also a new and very economically interesting alternative to diesel in medium/long distance road transport. Mature NG/biomethane technology offers the best immediate alternative to decarbonise transport rapidly until 2020, Manuel Lage emphasised in his short overview presentation to the politicians.

Manuel Lage and Joachim Zeller

NGVA Europe, represented by Manuel Lage and EU Affairs Manager, Matthias Maedge, was able to have very fruitful discussions with the politicians especially with regard to NGVA Europe's main political postulations, which NGVA Europe considers as key requirements to guarantee a bright future for Bio Natural Gas vehicles in Europe, in detail:

Due to the much lower emission values of pollutants like NOx or PM, NG/biomethane should be promoted as the recommended urban fuel.
Acknowledgement of Bio Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) as ECO-innovation.
Introducing a common European price policy for Bio-CNG (taxation).
Setting common rules for allowing biomethane injection into the gas grid Europe-wide (only 8 countries are feeding in so far). Studies show that a 10% share by 2020 is possible for all EU + EFTA countries.
Acknowledgement of CO2 avoidance potential via biomethane when injected into the gas grid (biomass as a feedstock burns CO2 neutral).
Well-to-wheels (WTW) studies need to put more emphasis on Methane.
Political signal to encourage OEMs to offer more CNG vehicles and to do better marketing and promotion for these vehicles => European action plan for further development of the NG/biomethane refuelling infrastructure.

The breakfast roundtable was also supported by the local NGV organisation of Berlin, Informationsdrehscheibe Erdgasfahrzeuge, in person of Rainer Giesel. Berlin will be the venue of the 2nd international NGVA Europe Conferences & Workshops next 7-9 June (see http://www.ngv2011berlin.com/en/)