Utah Driving Cheaply On Natural Gas
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Utah is one of the first states that appears to be taking a serious look at natural gas as a replacement fuel for gasoline. The state has seen a 240% increase in consumers who are purchasing natural gas for their vehicles. But there is only one minor problem. Well, more like two minor problems.
Gas stations do not want to spend the high cost to convert their stations to natural gas, since there is a lack of vehicles to make it profitable. Car companies are reluctatant to produce natural gas burning vehicles because of a lack of gas stations. Also there is the fact that in the article:
Natural gas is especially cheap here, so that people spend about 87 cents for a quantity of gas sufficient to propel a car approximately the same distance as a $3.95 gallon of gasoline.
The article does explain why natural gas is so cheap in Utah:
Natural gas prices at the pump here are controlled and are the cheapest in the country, while the price of conventional gasoline is one of the highest.
I know that some readers here and also in speaking to others in my community, there seems to be a consensus that we need to use ALL types of different energies to break our reliance on oil. But is this a pipe dream? Can we have cars running on ethanol, natural gas, propane gas, diesel, electricity and gasoline? All at the same time?
Which fuel would be most likely to win out in the end?
Comments welcome.
5 Comments
Don Naphen
August 30th, 2008
at 9:48am
I remember the same “Catch 22″ scenerio years ago when color tv first came on the scene Ron. NBC (I believe) was the first to offer it, but very limited programming due to small number of color tv’s on the market. Back & forth it went. Same situation here with natural gas. Of course, propane works well too! Most commercial applications, such as public transportation (buses), and trucking outfits have their own storage tanks. I doubt if the average home owner/renter would be allowed to do this. Suprisingly simple to modify a gasoline powered vehicle to burn the stuff, and possibly we might see the local propane dealers as a source of refueling? Fill up the propane tank for the grille AND your vehicle at the same time.
Of course, the issues of local/federal taxes would have to be factored in to this equation, but it’s doable right now with present technology. Food for thought, huh!
Ron Schenone
August 30th, 2008
at 12:21pm
Hi Don,
Exactly. But in this present crisis we need to act and not sit on our hands. Whatever it takes to break our dependence on oil must be done.
mpgomatic
August 31st, 2008
at 5:31am
Ron -
The answers will come from natural gas, propane, (bio)diesel, and electricity, without a doubt. Bottom line … it needs to be domestically produced. We can make all the electricity we want, anywhere in the country.
CNG is a great way to go in the locations where it’s dirt cheap. There’s huge demand out there for conversions on existing vehicles and you can buy new converted Ford F-150s straight from the dealer, courtesy of Rousch.
Here’s the skinny on a converted Mustang from the Alt Fuel Conference:
http://www.mpgomatic.com/2008/05/18/propane-mustang/
And a piece on the Honda Civic NGV, with home Phil station:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObaxHhYiuNM
Wright L
January 1st, 2009
at 10:40pm
I just read an article in LDS Living magazine, a Utah based magazine, about this subject. The author was Matthew Kennedy, the owner of LDS Living. He told the story of how Utah have a very impressive, progressive history. First women to vote, first female doctors, first female Congress women…etc, Kennedy then goes on to point out Utah’s role in this next “First.” Kennedy owns a steel engineering firm that is based in Orem, Utah and talks about the boon to business Utah’s leadership role will be for everyone. It’s very interesting to see this unfolding.
deborah
January 17th, 2009
at 12:53am
What was Kennedy’s article in LDS Living Magazine? I would like to read that article. I did a search for Kennedy and LDS Living but there are so many results I cant find the article.