One of the few bright spots in the United States energy picture is our production of natural gas, as well as our exporting of refined petroleum products. Did you get that—EXPORTING. But that is a subject for later; today I’d like to talk about natural gas and CNG.
Swamp gas. Cow flatulence. Biogas. Nasty odors from refuse dumps. Yup, natural gas is all around us! Natural gas is methane (composed of a single carbon atom), often mixed with other gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide (think rotten eggs). It is not propane (composed of three carbon atoms) also known as LPG (liquid petroleum gas). Nor is it butane (composed of four carbons). CNG is just compressed natural gas.
Through the application of new technologies developed by oil companies, our usage of home-grown natural gas has increased from 5% to 20%, which means we have decreased our use of imported natural gas from 95% to 80%. It is projected that it will be down to 40% by 2020. Electrical utilities are converting from coal to natural gas at such a rapid rate that railroads are suffering, coal being one of the major products they transport. In 2003 coal generated 51% of our electricity, and by 2011 that figure was down to 43%. It continues to fall as coal-burning utilities either convert or close down, and the decreasing price of natural gas will continue to drive this switch. Natural gas currently offers the cheapest way to produce electricity—20% lower than coal, nuclear, or most renewables.
North America has massive supplies of natural gas. We are able to produce it for sale at prices ranging from $2.50 to $4.00 per thousand cubic feet, which is very competitive in comparison with Europe ($10) and Asia ($15). Part of the reason we can sell it so cheaply is that the U.S. is a leader in developing and deploying a new technology called “fracking” or “induced hydraulic fracturing.” This consists of injecting water and other chemicals under high pressure DEEP underground (as much as 4 miles!) into shale, coal, limestone or sandstone. This pressure fractures the stone, allowing low concentrations of gas to migrate into pipes that then bring it up to the surface.
Since there are huge natural gas reserves around the world, natural gas may very well be the fossil fuel that helps transition us to other energy resources in an oil-depleted world. In addition to land reserves, natural gas exists at the bottom of the ocean and under permafrost in the form of “hydrates” (combinations of methane plus water in a ratio of 1 methane molecule to approximately 6 water molecules). These form crystals that look like ice. Worldwide supplies of these hydrates are estimated to be twice those of all other fossil fuels combined. You can actually ignite hydrate crystals and water will flow out!
I’m sure you’ve seen those signs along the highways advertising gas stations supplying CNG, but they are few and far between— there are 920 CNG stations in the U.S., compared with 120,000 stations dispensing gasoline. If you look at a map of CNG stations in the United States, it is clear that Oklahoma and California predominate. South Dakota has none. The great state of Montana has two. And overall they are very few and far between. Be very careful planning on a family cross country trip, and stay off the side roads!
So who is buying CNG and why?
For vehicle use, CNG is dispensed on a “gasoline gallon equivalent” (gge). This means that one “gge” has the same energy as one gallon of gasoline. The price of 1 gge averages about $1.00 less than the price of a gallon of gasoline, though current prices of 1 gge range from $1.00 to around $3.00. Still a lot less than gasoline.
So what does this mean in terms of driving? Assume a CNG car and a non-CNG car drive 15,000 miles. Assume the non-CNG car gets 41 miles/gallon and the CNG car gets 28 miles/gallon. And finally, assume a $1.00 price per gallon difference between CNG and gasoline. This would mean the annual fuel cost for a CNG car would be $1,071 less than the non-CNG car.
The U.S. has 114,270 CNV vehicles, mostly buses. The buses here in Stillwater are CNG, and 37 of the cars in the OSU motor pool are either CNG or a mixture of CNG and gasoline. FedEx and UPS both have CNG vehicles in their fleets. With the savings in fuel, it’s not surprising that private industry is experimenting with CNG. If the long-term savings is “real,” then we can expect to see industries with high fuel costs accelerate the conversion from gasoline or diesel to CNG. And many other countries in the world are far ahead of the U.S. in using CNG—Iran has more vehicles than any other country, followed by Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, and then India. Canada is even converting a locomotive over to CNG. How much of this is due to politics rather than economics, I can’t tell.
The Honda Civic Natural Gas is apparently the only car sold today that runs on CNG right out of the factory, but you can convert your existing car to CNG for between $8,000 and $16,000 using an EPA-approved conversion kit. Yes, that’s a lot of money to save just a thousand dollars a year, but would you expect a CNG car to be as cheap as one fueled by gasoline? CNG is new technology, after all, and we can expect the conversion cost to drop considerably. In the likely event that gasoline gets even more expensive, and CNG gets even cheaper, the economics of using CNG will improve quite a bit.
70% of US imported oil is used for transportation, and 38% of that is used for heavy-duty trucks, buses, and municipal vehicles. If just those are converted to CNG, we will have a 30% savings in imported oil use. Would it be worth it for the federal government to subsidize the installation of CNG stations at truck stops across the country? Surprisingly, it might pay for itself due to a reduction in military expenditures alone if greater reliance on CNG lessens the need to police the flow of oil around the world.
Although CNG has a number of advantages in addition to cost, such as reduced greenhouse gases and a higher octane rating than gasoline, there are geologic, mechanical, political, and aesthetic concerns about natural gas that we are just beginning to explore. For example, does fracking cause earthquakes? Does it contaminate water aquifers? Can we reduce the cost of making gasoline-to-CNG conversions? Does CNG cause wear and tear on a car engine?
As usual, many of these questions are being worked on at universities. To decrease the need for CNG stations, Colorado State University and Oregon State University are developing a new type of fuel system that will accept uncompressed natural gas from sources such a pipeline at your house—and then compress it inside the car. Texas A&M University is working on a super adsorbent lining for CNG tanks that would permit fueling at lower pressures.
And as part of an international design competition sponsored by the Society of Mechanical Engineers, a student club at Oklahoma State University called OKracing has built the world’s only Formula racing car that runs on CNG. (A Formula car by definition is an open-wheeled, single-seater.) OSU’s car, which can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds, recently traveled 770 miles in 24 hours, breaking its previous record of 590 miles over the same time period. The rules of the competition require the entire design team, including drivers, to be made up of college students. What an awesome learning experience—and a tremendous opportunity for further research into the impact of CNG on increased engine performance. The student’s team leader, Professor in residence Jim Beckstrom says it best:
"The more Universities we can get to compete, the more innovation they'll drive, and I think it will be a great, great next step for natural gas as a fuel,"
Conversion of state fleets to CNG is gaining momentum. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper have led a national, bi-partisan initiative that just this last week resulted in identifying 22 car dealerships for Chrysler, Ford, GM and Honda to deliver compressed natural gas cargo, utility and passenger vehicles for use in their state fleets.
I myself have learned how to “tank up” a CNG car from the OSU fleet. It took some instruction, but overall it was not unlike filling up with gasoline. The “whooshes” of gas moving from the pump to the car were kind of exciting (and scary!), but the best part was thinking, “Wow, here I am pumping CNG.” It was a futuristic thrill. Honest
Swamp gas. Cow flatulence. Biogas. Nasty odors from refuse dumps. Yup, natural gas is all around us! Natural gas is methane (composed of a single carbon atom), often mixed with other gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide (think rotten eggs). It is not propane (composed of three carbon atoms) also known as LPG (liquid petroleum gas). Nor is it butane (composed of four carbons). CNG is just compressed natural gas.
Through the application of new technologies developed by oil companies, our usage of home-grown natural gas has increased from 5% to 20%, which means we have decreased our use of imported natural gas from 95% to 80%. It is projected that it will be down to 40% by 2020. Electrical utilities are converting from coal to natural gas at such a rapid rate that railroads are suffering, coal being one of the major products they transport. In 2003 coal generated 51% of our electricity, and by 2011 that figure was down to 43%. It continues to fall as coal-burning utilities either convert or close down, and the decreasing price of natural gas will continue to drive this switch. Natural gas currently offers the cheapest way to produce electricity—20% lower than coal, nuclear, or most renewables.
North America has massive supplies of natural gas. We are able to produce it for sale at prices ranging from $2.50 to $4.00 per thousand cubic feet, which is very competitive in comparison with Europe ($10) and Asia ($15). Part of the reason we can sell it so cheaply is that the U.S. is a leader in developing and deploying a new technology called “fracking” or “induced hydraulic fracturing.” This consists of injecting water and other chemicals under high pressure DEEP underground (as much as 4 miles!) into shale, coal, limestone or sandstone. This pressure fractures the stone, allowing low concentrations of gas to migrate into pipes that then bring it up to the surface.
Since there are huge natural gas reserves around the world, natural gas may very well be the fossil fuel that helps transition us to other energy resources in an oil-depleted world. In addition to land reserves, natural gas exists at the bottom of the ocean and under permafrost in the form of “hydrates” (combinations of methane plus water in a ratio of 1 methane molecule to approximately 6 water molecules). These form crystals that look like ice. Worldwide supplies of these hydrates are estimated to be twice those of all other fossil fuels combined. You can actually ignite hydrate crystals and water will flow out!
I’m sure you’ve seen those signs along the highways advertising gas stations supplying CNG, but they are few and far between— there are 920 CNG stations in the U.S., compared with 120,000 stations dispensing gasoline. If you look at a map of CNG stations in the United States, it is clear that Oklahoma and California predominate. South Dakota has none. The great state of Montana has two. And overall they are very few and far between. Be very careful planning on a family cross country trip, and stay off the side roads!
So who is buying CNG and why?
For vehicle use, CNG is dispensed on a “gasoline gallon equivalent” (gge). This means that one “gge” has the same energy as one gallon of gasoline. The price of 1 gge averages about $1.00 less than the price of a gallon of gasoline, though current prices of 1 gge range from $1.00 to around $3.00. Still a lot less than gasoline.
So what does this mean in terms of driving? Assume a CNG car and a non-CNG car drive 15,000 miles. Assume the non-CNG car gets 41 miles/gallon and the CNG car gets 28 miles/gallon. And finally, assume a $1.00 price per gallon difference between CNG and gasoline. This would mean the annual fuel cost for a CNG car would be $1,071 less than the non-CNG car.
The U.S. has 114,270 CNV vehicles, mostly buses. The buses here in Stillwater are CNG, and 37 of the cars in the OSU motor pool are either CNG or a mixture of CNG and gasoline. FedEx and UPS both have CNG vehicles in their fleets. With the savings in fuel, it’s not surprising that private industry is experimenting with CNG. If the long-term savings is “real,” then we can expect to see industries with high fuel costs accelerate the conversion from gasoline or diesel to CNG. And many other countries in the world are far ahead of the U.S. in using CNG—Iran has more vehicles than any other country, followed by Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, and then India. Canada is even converting a locomotive over to CNG. How much of this is due to politics rather than economics, I can’t tell.
The Honda Civic Natural Gas is apparently the only car sold today that runs on CNG right out of the factory, but you can convert your existing car to CNG for between $8,000 and $16,000 using an EPA-approved conversion kit. Yes, that’s a lot of money to save just a thousand dollars a year, but would you expect a CNG car to be as cheap as one fueled by gasoline? CNG is new technology, after all, and we can expect the conversion cost to drop considerably. In the likely event that gasoline gets even more expensive, and CNG gets even cheaper, the economics of using CNG will improve quite a bit.
70% of US imported oil is used for transportation, and 38% of that is used for heavy-duty trucks, buses, and municipal vehicles. If just those are converted to CNG, we will have a 30% savings in imported oil use. Would it be worth it for the federal government to subsidize the installation of CNG stations at truck stops across the country? Surprisingly, it might pay for itself due to a reduction in military expenditures alone if greater reliance on CNG lessens the need to police the flow of oil around the world.
Although CNG has a number of advantages in addition to cost, such as reduced greenhouse gases and a higher octane rating than gasoline, there are geologic, mechanical, political, and aesthetic concerns about natural gas that we are just beginning to explore. For example, does fracking cause earthquakes? Does it contaminate water aquifers? Can we reduce the cost of making gasoline-to-CNG conversions? Does CNG cause wear and tear on a car engine?
As usual, many of these questions are being worked on at universities. To decrease the need for CNG stations, Colorado State University and Oregon State University are developing a new type of fuel system that will accept uncompressed natural gas from sources such a pipeline at your house—and then compress it inside the car. Texas A&M University is working on a super adsorbent lining for CNG tanks that would permit fueling at lower pressures.
And as part of an international design competition sponsored by the Society of Mechanical Engineers, a student club at Oklahoma State University called OKracing has built the world’s only Formula racing car that runs on CNG. (A Formula car by definition is an open-wheeled, single-seater.) OSU’s car, which can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in four seconds, recently traveled 770 miles in 24 hours, breaking its previous record of 590 miles over the same time period. The rules of the competition require the entire design team, including drivers, to be made up of college students. What an awesome learning experience—and a tremendous opportunity for further research into the impact of CNG on increased engine performance. The student’s team leader, Professor in residence Jim Beckstrom says it best:
"The more Universities we can get to compete, the more innovation they'll drive, and I think it will be a great, great next step for natural gas as a fuel,"
Conversion of state fleets to CNG is gaining momentum. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper have led a national, bi-partisan initiative that just this last week resulted in identifying 22 car dealerships for Chrysler, Ford, GM and Honda to deliver compressed natural gas cargo, utility and passenger vehicles for use in their state fleets.
I myself have learned how to “tank up” a CNG car from the OSU fleet. It took some instruction, but overall it was not unlike filling up with gasoline. The “whooshes” of gas moving from the pump to the car were kind of exciting (and scary!), but the best part was thinking, “Wow, here I am pumping CNG.” It was a futuristic thrill. Honest
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