| |
 |
 |
Thursday, July 24, 2008
831 - Natural gas-powered cars and trucks in Wyoming?
With Wyoming being one of the largest natural gas producing states, would it not make sense for us to lead the USA in usage of vehicles powered by this abundant substance?
As gasoline moves toward $5 per gallon and a natural gas-powered car runs on $1.25 per gallon-equivalent cost, well, would it not make economic sense for us to push for this development?
What if the state gave some kind of economic benefit to companies that put in natural gas stations? Or to car dealers that sold natural gas powered cars? Or to car owners who buy these kinds of cars?
These cars are called CNG cars, for their use of compressed natural gas.
Big news across the country is the vast proliferation of hybrid cars and even the soon appearance of all-electric cars. Yet, here we are in natural gas-rich Wyoming with product that we cannot even get to market. Why not jump into this fray and lead the nation with this type of development?
Up to now one of the biggest problems is lack of fueling stations. Wyoming could pioneer such a thing but in the meantime, a Canadian company has developed a home system where you can re-fuel your car overnight using your own natural gas system in the garage. It is a slow process, though, as the gas is pumped at 3,600 pounds per square inch in order to become CNG and fit in the tank. Ideally you need filling stations, though.
Another downside is that in extreme cold, the efficiency suffers, but it is small price to pay for the overall, year-around benefits.
CNG vehicles have a host of champions. One of the big energy promoters in the country is T. Boone Pickens, the legendary Texas oilman. Three things he is promoting are wind turbines, oil sands and natural gas-powered cars.
His reasoning is that we need to cut down on imported oil, since our country does not produce enough oil to sustain our needs. But switching to natural gas that means less oil needs to be imported.
One of my coffee buddies was telling me about his son-in-law who lives in Brigham City, Utah and commutes 144 miles a day to his job in Magna, Utah.
He says the fellow expects to save many thousands of dollars a year when he takes delivery of a Honda Civic GX car later this month. It burns compressed natural gas rather than the gas hog Toyota Sequoia he has been driving.
Honda has been making these cars for some time. In fact there are about 142,000 natural gas-powered vehicles in this country today. And over eight million worldwide. So the technology is proven.
This technology works very well for big-city buses although one drawback in small cars like the Honda Civic is that the CNG tank pretty much wipes out the trunk space.
Another downside is that the CNG cars are not available just anywhere. Next-door Utah is a big booster of these kinds of vehicles. That state has promoted the construction of 749 special service stations featuring CNG. More than 100 Utah businesses and government agencies are using vehicles powered by compressed natural gas.
In Chicago a week ago, a U. S. Representative announced plans to introduce legislation forcing U.S. car markers to make 10 percent of their vehicles CNG vehicles by 2018.
So how do these cars work? An airline pilot named Jeff Church of Los Angeles has put 53,000 miles on his 2003 model. He says with his home unit, he only pays 98 cents per gallon for fuel. He says it is the perfect vehicle for folks who drive a lot of miles.
Last time I checked, Wyoming people actually drive more miles per-capita than just about anyone in the country. Plus big pickups and SUVS probably outnumber cars in our state. Any way to convert these gas-guzzlers to lower costs would be pretty inviting. Perhaps we need to get on this bandwagon. And soon.
Everyone knows that T. Boone Pickens is no dummy. He believes in wind and so should we, since Wyoming is just as windy as his West Texas.
And he believes in natural gas of which we have a tremendous abundance. If this technology really does work in our high altitude, cool climate, it would be fun to see us leading the nation in converting to a system that makes so much sense at first glance.
More details on his plan can be found on www.pickensplan.com.
|
|
 |
|
|
