Walnut Creek Switches City Fleet to Renewable Diesel Fuel

Walnut Creek got a little greener last week after the city started pumping renewable diesel fuel into its diesel-powered fleet, making it one of the first cities in the Bay Area to switch to renewable diesel fuel.

So far, the conversion has been seamless, Walnut Creek Public Works Manager Rich Payne said.

“We haven’t noticed anything in terms of performance and it didn’t require any retrofitting of our equipment,” Payne said.

The city had been using low-percentage biodiesel, which is blended with petroleum diesel, for its fleet of street sweepers, dump trucks, backhoes, lawn mowers and other equipment, Payne said. Representatives from NeXgen Fuel LLC, which is distributed by Golden Gate Petroleum, approached the city about switching fuels, Payne said.

Renewable diesel is similar to biodiesel in that it is made from the same stock, which include fats, oils and greases, but that’s where the similarities end, said Pat O’Keefe, NeXgen CEO and Vice President of Golden Gate Petroleum. “The process to manufacture it is completely different,” O’Keefe said. “Renewable diesel acts and behaves in the engine just like regular diesel.”

The city pays around $2.75 per gallon for renewable diesel, which Payne said is on par with conventional diesel and roughly 10 cents cheaper per gallon than biodiesel.

But Payne said emissions are much lower than either petroleum or traditional biodiesel.

The city adopted a Climate Action Plan in 2012 with a goal of reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent, based on 2005 levels, by 2020.

The top source of all emissions for the city, or 59 percent, is in its transportation sector, according to city officials.

“Our main priority in making the switch was to continue our progress in finding ways to improve our carbon footprint,” Payne said. “We thought this would be a good way to do that.”

--Bay City News