The National Conference of Weights and Measures has announced that a special steering committee is recommending that compressed and liquefied natural gas be sold in gasoline and diesel gallon equivalents.

The recommendation will be voted on this July at the 99th NCWM Annual Meeting in Detroit.

The NCWM is nonprofit association of state and local weights and measures officials, federal agencies, manufacturers, retailers and consumers that developed national weights and measures standards since 1905.

The recommendation sets the stage for the potential approval of the diesel gallon equivalent standard, which under the proposal is defined as 6.380 pounds of compressed natural gas and 6.060 pounds of liquefied natural gas.

Supporters of this change says the adoption of the DGE standard would provide certainty for fuel retailers and regulators as CNG and LNG would be measured in consistent units of mass.

They also claim it would allow natural gas to be displayed in units that provide customers and the broader public the ability to easily compare fuel costs and understand the value proposition of natural gas versus diesel fuel.

The gasoline gallon equivalent standard has been used in the natural gas vehicle industry since its adoption by NCWM in 1994.

“For 20 years, the GGE standard has provided fuel retailers and customers a reliable unit with which to do business,” says the group NGVAmerica, a national organization dedicated to the development of a market for vehicles powered by natural gas.

It belies as the number of LNG stations and CNG station serving the trucking industry grows, it is increasingly important that there be a national standard that provides guidance on the way to measure and dispense natural gas in DGEs.

"Establishing a diesel gallon equivalent standard is an important issue that would have a significant impact on our industry," said NGVAmerica president Richard Kolodziej.