MLGW
The utility’s compressed natural gas refueling station on Tupelo Street
Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) and the United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) are two of the 11 winners of the 2017 Tennessee Sustainable Transportation Award.
The award, given by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee Department of Transportation, recognizes initiatives that improve the efficiency, accessibility, affordability, and sustainability of transportation systems in the state.
Through a partnership with Clean Energy Renewable Fuels (CERF), which collects, cleans, and compresses biomethane gas produced by the North Shelby landfill, MLGW has been purchasing 100 percent natural gas and reusing it for low-emission fuel in their natural gas distribution system.
Since 2013, MLGW has opened two of the areas first compressed natural gas (CNG) refueling stations that are open to the public.
Located near high traffic industry access ways by the utility’s North and South service centers, the stations provide clean, domestically produced natural gas for businesses and residents’ vehicles 24 hours a day.
Total CNG usage and diesel displacement since the stations opened equals over 700,000 diesel gallon equivalents.
Additionally, with more than ten percent of MLGW’s company vehicles powered by alternative fuels, the utility saves nearly 53,000 gallons of gasoline annually.
Similarly, UPS announced in 2015 that it would supply its fleet in Memphis and Jackson, Mississippi with 15 million diesel gallon gas equivalents of renewable natural gas as part of an agreement with MLGW and Atmos Energy Marketing, LLC.
The company now operates one of the largest private alternative fuel and advanced technology fleets in the country, known as the Rolling Laboratory, using both CNG and liquified natural gas to power its ground fleet.
The company has a goal of driving one billion miles with its alternative fuel fleet by the end of 2017.
