·         ·The company will supply vehicular natural gas (VNG) to the contractors providing this service in the city of Barcelona.

·         ·Natural gas produces less pollution and noise and is more economical than diesel.

From November and for the next eight years, GAS NATURAL will supply vehicular natural gas (VNG) to a fleet of over 200 urban waste collection vehicles belonging to the companies that provide this service in Barcelona.

GAS NATURAL will also construct the infrastructures needed for refuelling the fleets of the CESPA, URBASER and CLD companies. In the future it will also be possible to use these infrastructures to supply vehicles belonging to third parties such as commercial fleets and taxis.

The urban waste collection vehicle fleets of these three companies will consume each year a volume of natural gas equivalent to the consumption of around 17,000 homes.

More ecological and economical

GAS NATURAL has signed an agreement with URBASER, CESPA and CLD to work together on designing the project to introduce natural gas in their respective vehicle fleets, enabling them to comply with two of the conditions set by Barcelona City Council when it put the contracts out to tender: to reduce noise levels and to use less polluting fuels.

Using vehicular natural gas as a fuel in this type of vehicle reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides by over 85%, and emissions of suspended particles, one of the main polluters affecting human health, by 100%.

VNG also reduces emissions of CO2, the main greenhouse gas causing climate change, by up to 20%. Natural gas is, therefore, the best alternative energy available today for tackling the problem of air quality in our cities.

Furthermore, natural gas has been widely taken up by public service companies as it offers considerable cost savings compared with diesel.

Agreement with CLD at Ecocity

At the Ecocity fair, an exhibition dedicated to environmental solutions for the public and industrial sectors, GAS NATURAL signed an agreement this week with CLD, which will have 70 new gas vehicles to collect waste in the Horta-Guinardó and Nou Barris districts of Barcelona. This follows contracts signed with URBASER and CESPA, whose fleets will total 144 vehicles.

Barcelona, 29 May 2009.