Each year, Atmos Energy celebrates Earth Day alongside the 1,400 communities we serve. This story concludes a series we published this week about the ways that our comprehensive environmental strategy is focused on reducing Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions and other environmental impacts from our operations, fleet, facilities, gas supply, and customer end-use. 

Atmos Energy’s fleet of over 4,200 vehicles, ranging in size from sport utility vehicles to heavy-duty trucks, is a key focus area of our comprehensive environmental and carbon reduction strategy. For operational sustainability, we maintain our fleet with resilience and flexibility in mind, and we rely upon proven technologies when pursuing more energy-efficient fleet options. In 2021, we developed a multi-year strategy to convert our fleet to hybrid electric-gas vehicles for our service and other light-duty vehicles and to compressed natural gas (CNG) for our heavy-duty vehicles as part of our normal replacement cycle. This strategy will result in greater fleet diversification and efficiency and reduce overall emissions.  

In 2022, we took delivery of hybrid light-duty trucks for the first time and commissioned our earliest CNG refueling station. Today, hybrid vehicles represent approximately 10 percent of our fleet. We also have a total of five CNG refueling stations in cities across Texas, including Fort Worth, Arlington, Round Rock, Lubbock, and Amarillo, and we expect to add three more over the next year. Of note is the CNG refueling station in Arlington, which leverages renewable natural gas (RNG) as part of its gas supply mix.  

RNG is a carbon neutral, pipeline-compatible fuel that can be produced from various waste streams including landfill gas, animal manure, water resource recovery facilities, food waste, agricultural residues, forest product residues, energy crops, renewable electricity, and municipal solid waste. According to the EPA, municipal solid waste landfills are the third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, so capturing and converting the emissions from landfills into renewable energy helps prevent a significant source of methane from migrating into the atmosphere.  

Across the enterprise, Atmos Energy transports about 8 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of RNG annually, which is equivalent to removing 97,870 passenger cars from the road for one year. This RNG supply comes from nine projects currently flowing, with another 19 projects in development across our service territory that may increase the amount we transport in the coming years. Together, our focus on fleet energy efficiency and renewable gas supply are two important ways that our comprehensive environmental strategy helps promote a lower carbon economy to achieve our nation’s climate goals. 

To learn more about Atmos Energy’s comprehensive environmental strategy and the ways it supports a lower carbon future, please review our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Report at https://www.atmosenergy.com/sustainability/environmental-and-operational-sustainability.