The end result of the 21st century will be that we will use every single gram of fossil fuel of every type (petroleum, natural gas, coal) that can be dug up for less cost than wind/solar. The more reserves we find, the more carbon winds up in the atmosphere. Environmental handwringing will be about as effective as standing in front of an oncoming train and whispering "stop, please". At best, the environmentalists will succeed in slowing fossil fuel consumption down by a decade or two before we hit the inevitable wall of it no longer being economically viable.<p>Meanwhile, we'll slam into Hubbert's Peak at the global level some years before the dinosaur farts run out, resulting in a steep drop in energy availability and a steep increase in cost. This will send shockwaves through the global economy, and set off resource wars the likes of which we've never seen.<p>If we're very, very smart, and very, very lucky, we won't see half the population of the Earth wiped out in resource wars and famine during this century. :(
The article states: 'a licensed professional can only tamper with an emissions system.' This is obviously not true, because the person who stole my catalytic converter most likely did not have a license. Much like the hundreds of thousands of diesel based Mercedes Benz with a BB in the EGR valve to increase fuel economy, power, and smoothness.<p>In Texas, I see a lot of trucks from the oil fields which are fitted to run on dirty diesel. Every once in a while, you see a natural gas truck, but it is rare.<p>I was just looking into buying a natural gas dryer, water heater, and oven. I get the same feeling of buying a Nexus phone and choosing a carrier versus getting stuck in a contract. The initial lump sum will pay off in savings within a year. My only worries revolve around repairs.
If we really want to use natural gas for transportation, an easier path might be to use it to synthesize gasoline and diesel. A barrel of synthetic oil from methane costs about $60.<p>Before doing that, it might be a good idea to fix the methane emissions from fracking, and figure out how long those wells are really going to last. There's a lot of skepticism about that "100-year supply."
We have seen a new fleet of taxi cabs here in Chicago. They run on compressed natural gas. I got to ride in a VPG a few weeks ago. The driver liked the car but said the biggest problem is mileage. 9-10 mpg in the city. I like the idea of CNG, of course there are kinks that need to be worked out. Forklifts have been running on CNG for years so why not cars.<p>New Auto Company: Built in Indiana
<a href="http://www.vpgautos.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.vpgautos.com/</a><p>Chicago Article about VPG Auto:
<a href="http://taxicabtimes.com/compressed-natural-gas-fuels-expansion-of-accessible-taxicabs-in-chicago-p1944-1.htm" rel="nofollow">http://taxicabtimes.com/compressed-natural-gas-fuels-expansi...</a>
I was at first annoyed that coal was described as cheap in the article, and then relieved to hear that in the US the EPA is adding the environmental cost back into the equation. Hope that China follows in the reduction of coal fueled power.
I think tranisitioning to natural gas is silly. Its at best a bridge technology before an eventual tranisition to solar. Given the opportunity to leapfrog a generation of technology and infrastructure while doing less damage to the environment is a now brainer. Plus, investing in solar gives the US the opportunity to liquiefy the natural gas and export it, helping the trade imbalance and displacing the new coal fired plants being built abroad.<p>When building a power plant the expected return is usually about 40 years. We shouldn't be asking ourselves what infrastructure we want in 5-10 years, but how we want our energy infrastructure to look in 30-50 years. In 30 years I'm pretty confident solar will be cheaper than natural gas, so why build out all this infrastructure to switch to natural gas cars etc?<p>At best natural gas is a good resource for handling the intermittency problem with solar. Gas power plants fire up and shut down very quick and efficiently comared to other types of power. Thus they're a great compliment to a power source that currently cannot be stored for night time use.
Natural gas prices are volatile at this point. Seems they have increased in recent months:<p><a href="http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/coals-us-comeback/20453?tag=search-river" rel="nofollow">http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/coals-us-comeback/2...</a>
I've been very interested in converting my vehicle to run on natural gas but I haven't been able to find any services that do it, nor any price estimates. (US east coast) Is this an area to consider starting a business?
One of the benefits of a pressurized fuel source is that you don't vent the petrol saturated air in your tank to the atmosphere every time you fill it up. About 4million cubic yards daily.
I have a 2012 Honda insight Hybrid for about a year now.<p>In the Eco mode and normal driving it sustains about 48MPG mostly in city driving. With lots of highway it goes up to 52MPG. It does this with remarkable regenerative braking, running on electricity most of the time, turning off the engine while you are in low energy consumption modes, and only running the engine at target efficiency.<p>The future of energy in America is Black Gold, aka Petroleum. Imported from various places in the world.