Arcadia Unified Celebrates Grand Opening of Compressed Natural Gas Station
Thanks to nearly $500,000 in grants, the Arcadia Unified School District celebrates the opening of its new compressed natural gas (CNG) station. The new CNG station is estimated to save the district up to $40,000 in fuel and maintenance costs per year. It will also continue AUSD’s mission of being a greener and more environmentally friendly district. Compressed natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel and produces 95% less carbon monoxide than gasoline and diesel. Arcadia Unified will eliminate an estimated 400 tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
AUSD Director of Operations, Transportation, and Food Services Dr. Brook Reynolds spearheaded the project.
“I’m very excited to see the station up and running and our vision come to fruition,” he said. “We are fortunate to be able to work with great partners whose missions and visions of sustainability, technology, education, and being environmentally conscious all align with what we believe in as a district.”
The California Energy Commission (CEC) contributed $300,000 to the CNG project through a grant, and the Mobile Source Air Pollution Review Committee (MSRC) contributed an additional $175,000.
“We are hoping to continue to work with the MSRC and others to launch a phase two of the project and expand our CNG station,” Dr. Reynolds explained. “Ultimately we would like to expand and have a second compressor and two additional storage tanks. This would increase our ability to allow other agencies and school districts within our community to use our facility via fast fill.”