The European Council, the third branch of the European body politic issued a conclusion about the management of bio-waste in the EU on June 25 that supports a European “Green Paper” from December 2008 that both could provide greater impetus to the use of biogas upgraded to biomethane for vehicle applications.

   One of the things that makes this particularly significant is that The Waste Framework Directive, a European law regarding waste management and recycling that passed in June 2008 specifically excluded biogas from the scope of the law. The directive could have been but was not on the radar screen of the European NGV biomethane stakeholders. Now the industry could get another chance to initiate an analytic and legislative lobbying effort that addresses NGVs through an important ‘back door’ of waste management. The December 2008 Green Paper, On the Management of Bio-waste in the European Union, recognized biogas as an opportunity to “reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions most significantly if used as a biofuel for transport or directly injected into the gas distribution grid.” (A Green Paper is the first step in a normally three-year legislative process, followed by an analytic White Paper that advances the drafting of a Directive by the European Commission.) Its use as biofuel,” says the Green Paper, “could result in significant reductions of GHG emissions, showing a net advantage with respect to other transport fuels.” The Green Paper also noted the example of the French city of Lille’s use of separated organic waste collected by the municipality that will produce 4 million cubic meters of biogas intended to run a fleet of 150 buses in the city’s municipal transport system.

   The Green Paper furthermore noted, “Every ton of biowaste sent for biological treatment can deliver between 100-200 m3 of biogas,” and “may often represent the environmentally and economically most beneficial treatment technique” for agricultural or urban waste.

   The European Council in its “conclusion” on June 25 noted that the Waste Directive (2008/98 EC) does not include biodegradable waste as biogas in the definition of bio-waste. The Council further supported the Green Paper saying that biogas from anaerobic digestion as a potential renewable energy source should be considered in its further analysis that leads to possible future legislation.

   This represents a major potential breakthrough for biogas as a transportation fuel, especially since the December 2008 Energy and Climate Package legislative initiatives, apart from definitions of biomethane, largely ignores biogas as a potential transportation fuel but instead focuses mainly on its applications in electricity generation.

   A focused effort within the European Commission to forward biogas and biomethane as a vehicle fuel will be needed to help increase the prospects for improved support from the European Union.

   Additionally, key members of the European Parliament will have to be educated as to the importance of biogas upgraded to biomethane as a transportation fuel in reducing CO2 emissions.

   The developing bio-waste effort within the European Commission is only one of about half a dozen European level initiatives on energy and the environment that could include favorable positions for natural gas and biomethane as a vehicle fuel. Implementation of some of the Energy and Climate Package, coupled with other lobbying and educational efforts aimed at EU policy makers and administrative decision makers is part of an overall European NGV lobbying strategy that has been developed by Clean Fuels Consulting.

By Dr. Jeffrey M. Seisler, CEO, Clean Fuels Consulting.