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Examining The Caveats Of CNG
The pluses of CNG vehicles are as simple as 1, 2, 3, proponents say.
No. 1, they cost less to operate; 2, they are more environmentally friendly and safer to drive; and 3, CNG is a bountiful domestic fuel now stored at historic levels and will keep money at home that otherwise goes for oil often imported from hostile nations.
And yet CNG does have its detractors.
Let's take those caveats one at a time. Yes, CNG is cheaper than refined petroleum gasoline right now, at between $1 to $1.50 per gallon equivalent, compared with about $2.40 for conventional gasoline. Drive CNG power 15,000 miles per year at 30 miles per gallon, and the savings may be $500 annually.
But that's only part of the financial hit. Conversions cost up to $13,000 for passenger vehicles and about $25,000 for an already- built dedicated Honda Civic GX CNG car. The Ford Focus bi-fuel costs $22,000, about $4,000 above the conventional model.
Proponents say the extra cost up front is balanced by rebates, grants and tax incentives available and more so in the future.
No. 2, CNG foes may scare the bi-fuel out of people by noting the 3,660 pounds-per-square-inch pressurized tank lying in the trunk. You're carrying a potential bomb back there, they warn.
Todd Eaton, sales representative for North Carolina-ba
"The tank is the strongest, safest thing on the vehicle," Eaton said.
How so? Each tank is reinforced to handle that pressure and, if threatened by excess heat or puncture, has a quick-release valve that vents CNG out through a hole under the vehicle, where it dissipates into the air.
Bill Winters, the Jim Norton Ford sales manager, said he has seen video in which a gunshot is fired at a tank and nothing happens. On the other hand, a 2005 report in the journal Risk Analysis by professors Samuel Chamberlain and Mohammad Modarres predicted that typical CNG buses, for example, had a slightly higher fire risk than diesel or gasoline vehicles.
And what about plus No. 3, that natural gas is so abundant domestically that we never need worry about supply or pricing? Well, federal reports show that U.S. working gas storage is at about 2.5 trillion cubic feet, not an all-time high but not far from it.
And the price is right, between $5 and $6 per thousand cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Of course, markets change: two years ago that price was above $12, and it was closer to $15 earlier in the decade.
No doubt, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are innovations that now make natural gas available in volumes previously thought impossible. What Congress does on regulations to "fraccing" and producer incentives could affect future production. And history should always teach us something: U.S. oil production was unparalleled 100 years ago, but today it's a much smaller piece of the pie. The same could happen with natural gas.
And then there's the filling-up part. Some companies may make kits to take natural gas straight from the home meter, but the process reportedly is slow. And getting to the station is hardly like pulling into the local QuikTrip. CNG stations are spread out, unmanned and require a credit card.
Proponents concede that service infrastructure needs to grow but they also ask if there is a better alternative. Electric plug-in vehicles are touted often, and yet that service infrastructure and the added cost of power generation has not been figured out, either.
The big test is whether it's something that can be self- sustaining in a competitive marketplace. The compressed natural gas vehicle industry, supporters boast, has managed to survive with comparatively small public subsidization.
CNG technology is here, relatively cost-effective and already on the road.
"Right here we've got a picture of what is available now as a real-life solution," Eaton said.
Maybe every entrance ramp has a few potholes on the highway toward energy independence. Those alternatives to CNG, however, have some feasibility issues.
Originally published by ROD WALTON World Staff Writer.
(c) 2010 Tulsa World. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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