Accelerating its development program to support growing natural gas vehicle fueling demand, Clean Energy Fuels Corp., North America's leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation, significantly increased its fueling station project completions during 2011.
During 2011, Clean Energy completed 68 fueling station projects in 16 states, including five LNG truck fueling stations on America's Natural Gas Highway.
"We increased the number of station projects completed during the year by 50 percent over 2010," said Andrew J. Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy. "These included stations serving transit (7), refuse (18) and airport/taxi/shuttle (28) operations around the country, as well as locations situated to support the needs of local and regional trucking and small fleets (15)."
"During the second half of 2011, Clean Energy received total investment commitments of $450 million, largely to fund substantially more fueling station development going forward, particularly LNG truck fueling stations along America's Natural Gas Highway," noted Littlefair.
"We are pleased to be leading the way for key segments of our nation's transportation system to convert to the use of natural gas fuel, saving money and helping the environment and our nation's energy security through growing independence from imported oil," Littlefair added.
Currently priced up to $1.50 or more per gallon lower than diesel or gasoline (depending upon local markets), the use of natural gas fuel reduces costs significantly for vehicle and fleet owners, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions up to 30 percent in light-duty vehicles and 23 percent in medium to heavy-duty vehicles. Additionally, natural gas is a secure North American energy source with 98 percent of the natural gas consumed produced in the United States and Canada.
