rrbatch

A Natural Gas Centric Strategic Long-Term Comprehensive Energy Policy

Good, factual post! We certainly need to wean the U.S. away from imported petroleum quickly, and with minimum expense. CNG may be the way, if not bio-fuels and EVs. Probably a mix of each of these as well as petroleum-based fuels during a transition period.

One flaw in the CNG argument is the 4:1 lower energy density of CNG vs. gasoline. Thus for equal range and energy efficiency, a car powered by CNG would require 4x the tank volume of a gasoline-powered car. I don't know how the Honda GX packages its tank into its body, but I suspect it simply has reduced range and/or trunk space compared to a gasoline-powered version.

The cost of conversion from gasoline to CNG runs $5000 to $7000 per vehicle, and it's hard to believe that this will be economic until the price of gasoline returns to well over $4 per gallon. I drive a Ford Escape hybrid, and I figured I'd break even on the $3000 cost premium after tax credit with gasoline over $2.75 a gallon; made money last summer, not this year. The cost to convert the entire U.S. light vehicle fleet of 240 million vehicles (R.L. Polk) to CNG would be an astronomical $1.5 trillion (doesn't sound so bad in comparison with the projected federal deficit).

Safety is also a concern: a house I used to live in blew up a few years ago because a technician made a wrong connection to a high pressure gas line. Two houses were destroyed here in central Virginia last year when an interstate gas line blew up. The thought of householders plugging their cars into gas lines for overnight refills scares me. But then gasoline is explosive, too, it's just not under pressure. CNG refueling at service stations with trained operators and reliable devices sounds better to me; that's how I get the propane bottle for our grill refilled.

For these reasons, the Pickens Plan dropped the idea of using CNG for light vehicles last year, and is now concentrated on adoption of CNG for heavy trucks. This is supported by the fact that major CNG lines tend to parallel the major interstate truck routes. I have every respect for Boone Pickens and his investment in the cause; he has the good sense to realize the limitations of CNG as a vehicle fuel in the near term.

You suggest a number of policy steps that should be taken, and I can agree with some, particularly slapping an import tax on petroleum. I do not believe that there is an effective government solution to the problem, however; far better to let the market sort out the best among alternative fuels for our future transportation needs.