L-NGV 2015 San Diego: new solutions regarding fueling infrastructure and regulations

On June 18, L-NGV 2015 San Diego delivered its keynote address and first conferences at the San Diego Convention Center. The keynote speaker was Paul Jablonski, Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). He addressed main features of MTS and remarked the strong commitment towards natural gas. Moreover, concurrent sessions took place simultaneously at Hall A and Hall B.

Infrastructure & Fueling featured a presentation by Andres H. Carlos (National Account Manager, Clean Energy), with “Natural Gas, Moving America Forward”. Greg Roche (Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Applied LNG), was also a speaker and discussed about “Making LNG Work as the Preferred Alternative Fuel.” He mentioned distributed power generation; process boilers, heaters and dryers; trucks and other vehicles as well as LCNG stations as ideal applications of LNG, and also focused on LNG supply chain.

Yossie Hollander (Cofounder, Fuel Freedom Foundation) presented “Natural Gas to Ethanol as an Affordable Liquid Transportation Fuel for Light-Duty Vehicles.” He highlighted the gap between prices of oil and natural gas, as well as between prices of coal and natural gas recalling the possibility to use gas to replace coal for electricity generation. Regarding transportation market, he said: “It has larger potential demand than all other natural gas markets combined.” Finally, he offered the “LDV solution” to speed up alternative fuel adoption in vehicles: ethanol and methanol made from natural gas.

Finally, Andrew Douglas (Senior Vice President. Sales, Marketing & Service, Agility Fuel Systems) introduced “The Fuel System Revolution.” Representing a company that offer a full product line with over 25,000 units operating, he spoke about natural gas vehicle evolution and adoption with a current scenario facing dropped oil prices.

At the same time, Safety, Policy, Standards & Regulations conference took place with Marco Zilioli, (Chairman of ISO TC22/SC25/WG6 & Lean Promotion Department Manager, Cavagna Group), who presented “The Evolution of the Pressure Relief Devices for NGV Applications.” He addressed cases of failure with CNG devices and detailed protection measures as well as main features of Cavagna safety devices.

Corey Miller (Alternative Fuels Specialist, Sierra Monitor Corporation) also spoke at this conference with its presentation “Preparing your Alternative Fuel Vehicle Maintenance Facilities to Meet Today’s Safety Requirements and Regulations.” He provided an insight to promote discussion on the different alternative fueled vehicles (CNG, LNG, LPG, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell) and detailed type of equipment, cost of ownership, codes and regulations, and main features of each fuel.

Transit Networking Breakfast

Earlier that day, the event featured a Transit Networking Breakfast, also at the San Diego Convention Center, which was sponsored by Xerox. Introduced by Terry Solis (The Solis Group), an entrepreneur with vast experience in transit projects, the meeting gathered a crowded audience with important players of the industry and offered a space for different companies involved in transportation to share their insights into this diverse market.

Image 3: Paul Jablonski (MTS)