The Municipal Company of Services of Urban Environment of Gijón (EMULSA) and EDP promoting mobility with vehicular natural gas. The municipal entity and the energy company signed a four-year agreement to promote the use of this fuel in the municipality of Gijón.

In the signing of the agreement, which took place at the headquarters of EMULSA, were Esteban Aparicio, delegate councilor for Citizen Security, Mobility and Transport, and president of the municipal company participated, Pilar Vázquez, managing director of EMULSA, Antonio González-Lamuño, director of Casa Inteligente of EDP n and Javier Izquierdo, head of Sustainable Mobility of EDP n.

For Aparicio, this agreement "is framed in the actions that EMULSA has been developing to reduce polluting emissions of the fleet, which consists of more than 250 vehicles, and to which we have already incorporated two and a half CNG trucks and several electric vans".

For his part, Gonzalez-Lamuño stressed that "the signing of this agreement is an important step in EDP's commitment to sustainable mobility, which further strengthens our commitment to the municipality of Gijón, where we have launched the first ecostation of the north of Spain and we maintain agreements around electric mobility".

Through this agreement, EMULSA is committed to complying with a plan for the incorporation of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas between 2017 and 2020. In total, it will incorporate 29 vehicles to its fleet, including vans and heavy vehicles (container and container trucks for furniture collection).

The first of the planned trucks was presented today, it is an Iveco container equipped with a hook, which will be used for the Clean Points service and which has involved an investment of 178,000 euros of which 18,000 will be subsidized by the Movea Plan. This truck replaces another one registered in the year 1995, and with more than 927,925 km.

These vehicles are added to the current EMULSA fleet that already use compressed natural gas since June 2016 and in which the company invested 529,500 euros + VAT. According to statistical data, the kilometer traveled with a diesel vehicle costs 25% more than the same route with a compressed natural gas. Gas oil vehicles are at € 0.7 / km and gas vehicles at € 0.55 / km.

The commitment of EDP, for each year of the agreement and linked to the vehicle incorporation plan by the municipal company, contemplates a discount equivalent to the estimated annual consumption of a heavy and a light vehicle, 22,000 and 2,000 kilograms, respectively. An amount that translates into the annual consumption of natural gas from more than 60 homes.

In addition, EDP apply a discount of 3 euro cents per kilogram, compared to the sale price to the public, in the rest of refueling carried out by the vehicles, which will take place at the eco-station the company has in Roces.

The estimated annual consumption for the fleet propelled by EMULSA natural gas in the period 2017-2018 is between 90,000 and 105,000 kilograms; between 115,000 and 130,000 for 2018-2019; between 140,000 and 160,000 for 2019-2020; and between 155,000 and 175,000 for 2020-2021.

Natural gas is the fossil fuel that generates less emissions. In relation to diesel, it reduces the emissions of nitrous oxides by up to 95%, while those of sulfur oxides and particulate matter are practically nil. This environmental advantage is combined with a significant reduction in the cost of fuel, around 20% compared to diesel.