Language selection

Search


Natural Gas for Transportation

What is natural gas?

Natural gas is a clean-burning fuel, found in abundance in Canada as a mixture of gases in porous rock formations. It is extracted from the ground, processed to remove impurities and compressed to be stored and transported by pipeline.

Canada is one of the largest producers of natural gas in the world. Major high-pressure pipelines carry natural gas from its source to pipelines of natural-gas utility companies, which in turn take it to your home for heating or to a retail gasoline station to be compressed, stored and used to fuel vehicles.

Benefits

Environmental benefits

Natural gas burns more cleanly than gasoline or diesel fuel. Its use produces fewer toxic pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. It's also less likely to cause contamination than gasoline because natural gas is a pressurized fuel that must be contained within a sealed system, right up to the time it enters your vehicle. That means it is less likely to escape into the soil or water through careless handling, spills or evaporation.

Societal and economic benefits

Canada is one of the world's largest producers of natural gas, which means less reliance on a foreign supply of energy, while creating jobs and investment opportunities in Canada. There is no federal excise tax or territorial road taxes. other than in Manitoba which is currently the only province that charges road taxes on natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

Where to get natural gas?

Enter a location in the Electric Charging and Alternative Fuelling Stations Locator map to find a station where you can recharge or refuel your vehicle in Canada. This map will also show alternative fuel stations by using the drop down menu. Please note that the US data is only available in English.

Go With Natural Gas provides a central point of access for information on how switching to natural gas can lower emissions and reduce operating costs for truck and bus fleet owners. The website is a go-to resource for Canadian fleets interested in learning more about natural gas vehicles including the availability of factory-built trucks and buses, driving range, technology improvements, stations, emissions benefits, payback and fuel savings as well as learning about how natural gas compares to diesel in terms of energy use, properties, and safe handling.

The Natural Gas Use in the Canadian Transportation Sector Deployment Roadmap initiative, launched in March 2010, brought together stakeholders from governments, industry – including gas producers, transporters, distributors, vehicle and equipment manufacturers, and end-users – as well as representatives from environmental non-governmental organizations and academia. Facilitated by Natural Resources Canada, this process provided a platform for this broad array of stakeholders to discuss the potential for natural gas use across the medium- and heavy-duty transportation sector, explore strategies for overcoming barriers associated with its use, and develop recommendations for deployment. This Roadmap focused on expanding the use of natural gas across the transportation sector and represents an important contribution to deliberations toward a broader strategy to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

To receive a printed copy of The Natural Gas Use in the Canadian Transportation Sector Deployment Roadmap, please send your name and mailing address to: NRCan.alternative_fuels-alternative_fuels.RNCan@canada.ca

The website was made possible by a contribution from Natural Resources Canada’s ecoENERGY for Alternative Fuels program.

Page details

Report a problem on this page
Please select all that apply:

Thank you for your help!

You will not receive a reply. For enquiries, contact us.

Date modified: