Clean Energy yesterday celebrated its 15th year as a provider of natural gas for transportation.The company has grown from one CNG fueling station in Southern California fifteen years ago to 287 CNG and LNG fueling stations open today and 150 LNG truck fueling stations planned for America’s Natural Gas HighwayTM in 33 states.
The company also has operations in 25 countries around the world.
“We are pleased with our progress over fifteen years and excited to see our activities ramping up dramatically in 2012,” said Andrew J. Littlefair, Clean Energy president and CEO.
“At the beginning there were three employees and now we have over 1,000 employees in the United States and worldwide.
“We delivered our first gallon of CNG in March 1997 and now we are closing in on one billion gallons of CNG and LNG delivered to our customers.
“We started as a CNG provider and now we provide both CNG and LNG — and are the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in the United States.
“We began by operating fueling stations and now we design, construct, operate and maintain fueling stations; build and install the compression equipment to outfit them; build and install cryogenic equipment for LNG stations; convert light- and medium-duty vehicles to use CNG; and produce RNG (renewable natural gas or biomethane) for power generation and to reduce the already low greenhouse gas emission profile of natural gas.
“We took the company public in 2007, raising $100 million for growth, and raised $450 million in the latter half of 2011 alone to support our expanding infrastructure development program.
“We have been a champion of natural gas fuel for transportation and in 2012 are seeing our claims come true as vehicle fleets in increasing numbers are converting to natural gas.
“We are pleased to be contributing in a meaningful way to what we believe is a major transformation of American transportation from oil dependence to diverse fuels, principally natural gas.”
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 lowers greenhouse gas emissions up to 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 U.S. and Canada.
