Natural gas is becoming the preferred solution in many applications as it provides much longer runtimes, the permitting is more manageable, and units with natural gas have 90% fewer emissions compared to diesel generators. In addition, there is virtually no maintenance associated with natural gas generators, while diesel fuel requires conditioning annually. While diesel has been the traditional fuel choice, many companies interested in standby power generation are considering their carbon footprints and taking steps to become more eco-friendly. WPI offers generators that run on natural gas, which has significantly reduced emissions compared to diesel.

Diesel engines also emit more nitrogen oxide and particulate matter than similar spark-ignited units, which has led to increased scrutiny from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Intense emission level regulations and aggressive tier changes from the EPA could eventually tax diesel engines more due to their higher carbon dioxide emissions.

In addition, the high level of emissions produced by diesel gensets may increase the difficulty in procuring an air-quality permit. Obtaining an air-quality permit for natural gas units is easier because they have fewer harmful emissions. For companies emphasizing the core value of “being green,” natural gas is the best fuel choice in most situations.

Natural gas is one of the cleanest fossil fuels to use. Emissions of sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) are considerably lower when compared to diesel fuel. Another advantage is that more AHJs(?) recognize natural gas generators as sole off-site fuel choices because these generators rely on a strong underground pipeline network rarely impacted by weather.

Diesel is a proven and reliable solution, the standard in the industry, with a higher power density and faster start-up than natural gas. However, natural gas generators can meet the <:10 minimum startup time required for emergency power supply systems. Once started, the reliability and performance of diesel, natural gas, and bi-fuel generators are equivalent. These units can also be paralleled together for redundancy and to configure larger kW nodes. This can be accomplished with Generac’s onboard self-paralleling control platform.