Trucking And The Pickens Plan

Comment

Comment by Edward D on April 24, 2012 at 8:11pm

Steven Chu, please choose or advise the president to elect T Boone Pickens for your energy secretaty position.  Do we have a deal????

Comment by Edward D on April 1, 2012 at 7:12pm

Only and only by diversifying the energy sector portfolio in this country will America see future energy independence from OPEC's market driven globally traded oil prices.  If the entire globe relies only on one source of fuel for the world's transportation needs then it stands to loose in the long run in terms of demand for oil and surge of prices on the global scale(inflation rings the bell).  Thus in order to be energy independent we as a country need to create new sources of fuel (i. e. Nat Gas, Elecrtic for light cars, etc.) and have a real tule type to fall back on in times of need and crisis(like for example a standoff with Iran).  Only development of fuel and infrastructure creation will heal this country from many of it's ills and create options in times of need.

Comment by James H. Hatland on February 24, 2012 at 12:14am

Buy oil and natural gas stocks as a hedge.

Comment by John Wesley Nobles CA State Ldr on February 13, 2012 at 4:01pm

Go to the following link and vote for HR 1380, https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/hr1380.

Comment by James H. Hatland on January 25, 2012 at 2:49pm

I spent over 30 years in the transportation industry and I can see a big advantage in going to natural gas in truck transportation. Let me know what I can do to help in Las Vegas. 

Comment by Joe Mansour on August 29, 2011 at 10:59am

Good points.

Comment by J Jay Pirko on August 16, 2011 at 9:50pm

Energy for economic growth

August 16, 2011

By JJ PIRKO , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com

How about some job-creating sustainable energy projects to revitalize our region and reduce our dependence on foreign oil? After four decades of economic disaster and decline, triggered by the rising cost of energy since the OPEC oil embargo of 1973, we are emerging as a hotbed for developing new sustainable energy industries.

Here on the "Tech-Belt" Ohio-Pennsylvania border, we are turning "garbage gas" and "sewage sludge" into electricity. We are building wind, solar and geothermal energy projects, and training our people to work with this technology. Energy for transportation fuels and public utilities can be produced locally to bring down prices by increasing the supply. An algae biofuel plant is planned where a steel mill once stood. In Columbiana County, Baard is still attempting to convert coal into aircraft and diesel fuel. Another company is preparing to de-polymerize recycled plastic into oil, and the list keeps building.

For almost three years, I have been promoting our region's achievements and potential through the Pickens Plan organization, a network of entrepreneurs, inventors and activists. When I met with T. Boone Pickens in September, he was aware of the sustainable energy progress in our region, including the V&M Star steel mill designed to produce the drilling pipe needed in the Marcellus/Utica shale gas fields.

We already have the technology to convert trucks, buses and cars to run on methane (natural gas) that is a proven, practical alternative for petroleum-based motor vehicle fuels. The trucks serving the Port of Los Angeles and many major metropolitan bus fleets have converted to natural gas, because it reduces air pollution in smog-filled cities.

One of my Pickens Plan associates is quoted: "Using U.S. DoE data (Edition 28 - Transport Energy Book), the energy content of natural gas is 960 BTU/CF LHV while the energy content of diesel is 128,700 BTU/gallon LHV. Therefore one MCF of natural gas works out to 7.46 gallons of diesel." At $4 per gallon for diesel, that would cost almost $30, compared to 1 MCF of natural gas costing about $4 wholesale. The savings are about $174 every time we do not have to fill a 50-gallon tank with diesel fuel. The capital cost of converting vehicles to natural gas would soon be repaid with fuel-cost savings and reduced engine maintenance costs from this cleaner-burning fuel.

Production and distribution capacity must be built in lock-step with the growth of demand for natural gas vehicle fuel. Start with "closed-loop" transportation systems, like buses and local delivery trucks, which drive their routes and return to a central maintenance and refueling station. The NAT GAS Act (HR 1830) would create tax incentives for businesses to convert their vehicles to natural gas. This bill has been co-sponsored by Tim Ryan, D-Niles, Steve LaTourette, R-Bainbridge, and Jason Altmire, D-4th, but has not made its way onto the floor of Congress. Post office trucks, school buses, mass transit, and city / county / township truck fleets are another good place to start, saving taxpayers from the rising cost of imported oil.

Natural gas is also produced from sewage treatment sludge, agricultural waste and landfills naturally fermenting garbage. The Carbon Limestone Landfill produces enough electricity (13-14 megawatts) from "garbage gas" to power a small city. Struthers has a biodigester designed to power a pair of 375-kilowatt electrical generators.

Sewage treatment plants, old landfills and industrial brownfields are also ideal sites for shale gas horizontal drilling sites, drawing gas from more than a mile from the wellhead. These tend to be secure locations that are already environmentally damaged, and are usually distant from homes, schools, shopping centers and other populated areas. These facilities can serve as community gas and electric suppliers, reducing utility costs and providing non-tax revenue to support municipal governments. Utility costs, especially electricity, are a major factor when attracting companies.

Energy runs our economy, and we are developing it here.

Pirko is a Weathersfield resident. Email him at editorial@tribtoday.com.

© Copyright 2011 Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com. All rights rese...

 

 

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tribtoday.com%2Fpa...

Comment by Frank on August 3, 2011 at 10:54am

The cost of converting a truck to LNG or of buying an LNG truck requires that LNG is priced near the pipeline price of natural gas to have reasonable payback without subsidies.  T Boone Pickens frequently compares the cost of pipeline natural gas (currently around $4/MCF) with the cost of an energy equivalent amount of diesel  (~$30, IIRC).  $4/MCF natural gas converted to a Diesel Gallon Equivalent (DGE) comes out to about $0.527/DGE.  Price reports of existing Greater Los Angeles Area (GLAA) public LNG stations show that LNG is priced at around $2.20 to $2.58/gallon, which translates to about $3.81/DGE to $4.47/DGE.  With diesel currently selling for about $4/gallon in the GLAA, cost savings are minimal at best for using LNG.  If you repower a diesel truck with spark-ignition LNG engine, using LNG will even cost more because spark-ignition engines have lower fuel efficiency than diesels.  LNG is only prevalent in in California because regulations mandate its use.

Without a regulatory requirement, the economics of a converting a fleet to LNG point to the on-site LNG refueling of fleets that return to a central terminal daily.  Ideally, each truck will drive far enough to consume nearly an entire tank of fuel each day.  The cost of the LNG fuel system (the majority of which is the fuel tank) requires that the vehicle to consume as much LNG as possible to maximize the savings.  A large fleet would be much better off building its own on-site LNG refueling system with natural gas obtained directly from the producer rather than buying LNG from a public station.

For vehicles that are in continuous operation, fuel losses from venting should be minimal.  For vehicles with single-line fill procedures, there is an economizer valve in the tank system that blends LNG tank vapor into the liquid fuel supply to the engine.  Boil-off in these tanks is because of heat gain and there is no refrigeration effect as a result.  The process is exactly the same as boiling water on a stove.  Vehicles with a two-line fill procedure do not use an economizer because they have lower heat gains (due to better insulation) and the fill procedure returns the tank temperature back to about -240°F (due to the Joule-Thomson Effect) but pressurizes the tank to 45-80 psi (as required by the fuel system), which negates the need for an economizer.  In either case, venting is minimal or zero for vehicles in continuous use.

Please feel free to read earlier postings in this discussion and follow the links for more information.

Comment by Tom Bailey on July 29, 2011 at 5:45am

Very good news.

Thanks for the quick response and concern.

Best; Tom

Comment by Brian Carpenter on July 27, 2011 at 4:05pm

Tom,

 

I just had a conversation with a guy who knows this industry pretty well.  He says boil off is not an issue unless the vehicle sits for a couple of days, so it looks like if you burn the fuel quickly, you get no appreciable loss of fuel.  That's good news.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• …
• 13
• Next ›
• Page