Fueling a city’s fleet with low emission renewable fuels made from locally sourced waste

Western States Oil and Neste collect used cooking oil from Oakland's local restaurants and turn this waste into low emission renewable fuels to power the City's municipal fleet. 

The City of Oakland, California, is the 10th greenest city in the United States. As part of the journey to get there, the City began fueling its diesel-powered vehicle fleet and machinery with renewable diesel in 2015, a cleaner-burning and low-emission fuel made from waste materials such as used cooking oil, grease and rendered fats. More recently, the City of Oakland worked with Neste and Western States Oil (WSO) to create a circular economy, where locally sourced waste materials are used to create the renewable diesel that helps fuel the City. As a result, the City of Oakland is now preventing more than 3,375 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere per year - roughly the same climate benefits as keeping nearly 328,000 gallons of oil in the ground. 

What you will learn in this case study:

  • How treating waste as a resource can help any city more quickly achieve their climate goals and accelerate the phase out of fossil fuels.
  • The affordable, seamless and easy to replicate approach WSO and Neste used to create a circular economy in Oakland, from efficiently and safely collecting used cooking oil, to turning that waste into renewable diesel, and to supplying that same renewable fuel back to the City. 
  • How Neste is able to track and trace each drop of renewable diesel that is supplied to Oakland, guaranteeing a true circular economy. 
  • The many benefits Oakland has realized since creating this circular economy and switching from fossil diesel to renewable diesel, as well as the immense potential of creating circular economy programs in other cities across North America. 

Read the full case study

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