For several months there’s been a scramble on to consolidate the U.S. landfill gas collection systems, dairy- and hog-farm digesters, and other assets that produce renewable natural gas (RNG) — a drop-in replacement for conventional natural gas that can qualify for federal and state financial incentives. But what really caught everyone’s attention was BP’s announcement a few weeks ago that it would acquire Archaea Energy, a Houston-based company with more than a dozen RNG projects in operation and many more under development, in a deal valued at $4.1 billion. That’s big bucks in the biogas space. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the BP/Archaea deal and other recent acquisitions of RNG assets, as well as what’s driving the surging interest in RNG.
The global push to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — and, even more important, the financial incentives to help make that happen — have spurred interest in alternative fuels such as renewable diesel (RD), sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and clean hydrogen. And don’t forget RNG. As we said in I Love Trash, RNG is methane, with no material difference from the natural gas produced from wells in the Marcellus/Utica or the Haynesville basins. Instead of emerging from hydrocarbon wells, however, RNG is produced either by (1) collecting the gases generated by the decomposition of organic materials in municipal solid waste landfills, or (2) using anaerobic digesters to break down animal manure, wastewater solids and food waste in the absence of oxygen. Once the resulting gas is treated to remove moisture, carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen and impurities, it’s good-to-go methane.
Historically — in this case meaning since the 1990s — the vast majority of the landfill gas collected and the biogases generated by anaerobic digesters has been only partially treated and consumed onsite either to generate electricity (typically for sale to the local electric utility) or to fuel boilers, dryers, kilns or greenhouses. (A lot of landfill gas is also being flared.) Only a relatively small share these gases (but a quickly growing share of late, as we’ll get to in a moment) has been fully treated and upgraded — which puts it on par with pipeline-quality natural gas — and sold as RNG.
RBN’s U.S. Gulf Coast Hydrogen Infrastructure Map lays out the pipelines and merchant hydrogen plants that make up the gulf coast market, providing an unprecedented snapshot of the region’s hydrogen infrastructure network.
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About the song
“Green Light” was written by John Legend, Andre Benjamin, Fin Greenall, James Ho, and Rick Nowels. It appears as the second song on John Legend’s third studio album, Evolver. Released as the first single from the album in July 2008, it went to #4 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart and #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart and has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song, featuring the vocals of John Legend and Andre 3000, was recorded at Wine-O-Cellar Studio in College Park, GA, and Patch Werk Recording in Atlanta, with Malay and KP producing. Three different versions of the song were released. Personnel on the record were: John Legend and Andre 3000 (vocals); Malay and KP (programming, sampling); Kebbi Williams (saxophone); Richard Owens (trombone); and Jason Freeman and Jerry Freeman (trumpet).
Evolver was recorded in 2007-08, primarily at The Cutting Room Studios in New York City, with Kanye West, John Legend, Shannon Sanders, Drew Ramsey, Malay, KP, Dave Tozer, Mini Mafia, Dapo, will.i.am, Trevor Horn, Devo Springsteen, The Neptunes, Supa Dups, Teddy Riley, and Ne-Yo producing. Released in October 2008, it went to #1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart and #4 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. It has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. Four singles were released from the LP.
John Legend (John Roger Stephens) is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, television personality, and record producer. Legend got his first professional break while he was still attending the University of Pennsylvania, playing piano on Lauren Hill’s Miseducation of Lauren Hill album. After graduation from college, Legend put out two independent albums before being hired by Kanye West to do vocals on some songs he was recording. He signed to West’s label and put out his debut album, Get Lifted, in December 2004. He has released eight studio albums, four live albums, three EPs, and 39 singles and has sold over 10 million records in the U.S. Legend has won one Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe Award, 12 Grammy Awards, one Tony Award, one American Music Award, two Billboard Music Awards, and two MTV Video Music Awards. Since 2019, Legend has been a coach on the hit television singing contest show The Voice. He continues to record and tour and released his eighth studio album, Legend, in September 2022.
