Vehicles Fueled by Clean-Burning CNG Support this Innovative Firm’s Sustainability Goals

Dedicated Support Fuels Barnes, Inc. Full-Service Landscape Maintenance & Construction

Mark Barnes Founder and President of Barnes, Inc.,

Barnes, Inc. Landscaping offers high-quality, customer-focused lawn, landscape and snow removal services to residential and commercial clients in the region of Madison, Wisconsin. The firm prides itself at being the best at what they do, and strives to provide unique value and differentiation to the customers they service.
Founder and President of Barnes, Inc., Mark Barnes, envisioned how to make his company more sustainable, researching the newest clean fuel technologies and adapting the firm’s vehicles and equipment to reduce its overall carbon footprint.

“We continually balance our goals of providing the most cost-effective services of consistent high quality, while whittling away at our carbon footprint,” says Natasha Lippitt, Director of Quality Control for Barnes. “For example, using salt in Wisconsin winters is somewhat of a necessity, but Barnes has regular training with our team on how to use less, while maintaining the superior results our clients have come to expect.” She also noted that over 70% of the mowing equipment runs on propane.

CNG Fleet

One of the CNG vehicles in the Barnes fleet.

The Barnes fleet of vehicles includes medium and light duty trucks with specific functions to meet the various needs of their customers. The vehicles converted to CNG are all light duty trucks used primarily in the lawn maintenance division and for snow removal. The first trucks were converted in 2010. The company started by converting twenty percent of their light duty fleet. Barnes had to figure out what systems would
work – not all did right out of the gate. The firm grew their own knowledge and skill around converting gasoline engines to bi-fuel CNG vehicles and now has trained technicians on staff who do all the vehicle engine conversions. The fleet of light duty CNG trucks has grown to approximately 40-50 percent of their fleet, overall sixty vehicles.
“The goal for the CNG trucks was to reduce our carbon footprint and also to keep fuel costs lower,” says Natasha.

Fueling the Barnes Fleet

Fueling their fleet of CNG vehicles was of course a primary concern for Barnes. “We used public CNG stations for a time,” says Natasha. “But we did a cost analysis and determined that it was still costing a lot of time going to and from the public stations.” Barnes made the decision to develop their own CNG station, which they built in 2017. The station includes CNG gas compression systems and time-fill fueling dispensers.
“Time-fill fueling works for our business,” says Natasha. “Our trucks can fuel overnight and be ready to hit the road in the morning to service our customers.”

The Need for Uninterrupted Fueling Service

Barnes, Inc. is a highly innovative, 100% employee-owned company, and their team is very skilled at the technical sid

e of their equipment. But maintaining their fueling station was something they left to experts in the field of CNG gas compression and fueling equipment. The service excellence Barnes’ clients expect and the long-term relationships of trust with their clients depends on uninterrupted fueling of their CNG fleet.

“We were contracting with an outside firm to service our station,” says Natasha. And while they weren’t actively looking for a new service partner, they kept their eyes open for new opportunities. They discovered CMD Alternative Energy Solutions through a web search, and decided to sit down with the CMD team – Brad Schmoll, Business Development Manager; Dan Peyton, Technical Services Lead – CNG and Rock Petit, CNG Project Manager – and discuss the CMD approach to service.

CMD services CNG/RNG fueling stations, private or public.

The meeting with CMD provided some pleasant surprises for Natasha and Barnes. “It’s important to partner with people like us, who are looking to be better. We liked how CMD started and had a passion for what they do.” she says. She further notes that CMD is nearby, can respond quickly and offered creative solutions to save Barnes time and money. “Because Barnes will adapt to new sustainable technologies, it’s important to have a partner that will also flex as the industry changes – we feel we’ve found that with CMD.”

Brad Schmoll echoes the alignment and shared goals. “We are passionate about service, about attention to our customers, and about ensuring uninterrupted fueling for the Barnes’ fleet,” says Brad.
Barnes, Inc. is always looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint in an industry where carbon emissions can be high. They continue to grow their sustainable practices whenever possible in all areas of their business.

The Total Service Package from CMD

Dan Peyton, CMD Technical Services Lead

“We’re excited to service the Barnes’ site; it is an advantage that we are located less than 2 hours away in Appleton, Wisconsin,” says Technical Service Lead, Dan Peyton.
When he met with Barnes, Dan outlined their needs and worked up a customized plan, including monthly site visits for critical preventive maintenance and inspection, including all compressor checks, oil changes, equipment inspection and routine maintenance.
Of course, emergency dispatch service to their site when needed is included in the service.
Developing a strong partnership arrangement starts with customer attention, and Dan wasted no time getting to know personnel. “It was a pleasure to meet with several Barnes shop technicians and go over some operational basics,” says Dan.

Vision for the company

Barnes is committed to efficiently service, stay competitive while looking ways to be better environmental stewards. They think creatively and rely on adaptive, responsive partners like CMD to ensure their commitment to high quality customer service.

About Barnes Landscaping, Inc

Mark Barnes, a life-long Madison resident, established Barnes, Inc. in 1981.
Since its founding Barnes, Inc. has grown to over 150 employees with sales exceeding $10 Million annually, offering a full range of landscape, lawn maintenance, fertilizer and weed control, snow removal and holiday lighting services.
Our professional staff and crews can design, install, maintain and upgrade your commercial or residential property. We operate year-round, caring for over 1,000 commercial and residential customers on their properties. We offer a full range of services to residential and commercial customer for all seasons.
For More Information Contact: Natasha Lippitt [email protected]

About CMD Alternative Energy Solutions

CMD specializes in advancing technology in gas compression equipment for the CNG/RNG fueling market. A complete array of RNG site and CNG fueling station equipment offers 99% uptime performance. CMD service includes site service and maintenance, readily available replacement parts, and training for station operation and maintenance. 24/7/365 station monitoring and assistance is available and staffed by trained, in-house personnel using advanced monitoring technology, software and analytics. CMD has supplied CNG and RNG fueling equipment to NGV stations throughout the United States and Canada.
CMD Alternative Energy Solutions is a division of CMD Corporation, a privately-owned firm founded in 1980 and has 185+ employees. Equipment is designed and manufactured at the CMD 125,000 sq. ft. campus in Appleton, WI.
For more information contact: Lisa Kain [email protected]