Fill 'er up with natural gas
By DENNIS WEBB/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
Sunday, August 02, 2009
For Natalia Swalnick, stopping to refuel her Honda with natural gas instead of gasoline inevitably leads to a teachable moment.
“Every time I fuel up, someone hops out of their car. ‘What is that? What were you doing?” Swalnick is asked.
Such occasions let Swalnick, manager of the Denver Metro Clean Cities Coalition, preach the merits of natural gas as a clean-burning, cheaper fuel alternative to petroleum for vehicles.
No such educational opportunities exist for Swalnick along the Interstate 70 corridor in western Colorado, however. No public compressed natural gas (CNG) stations can be found along the interstate from Denver to the Utah border.
A broad coalition hopes to change that. It consists of everyone from natural gas industry interests to groups such as Swalnick’s to the state of Colorado and local governments.
Gov. Bill Ritter’s Energy Office recently applied for a $10 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to go toward a $27.6 million project to boost use of natural gas in vehicles in Colorado.
The public-private partnership proposes to deploy 68 heavy-duty natural gas vehicles and build several CNG stations. These include a public station at Grand Junction city shop property on River Road, and a second, private station for Mesa County and Grand Valley Transit at a public works facility in the Whitewater area.
“Obviously, Grand Junction and where we’re at here, it would be nice to have a station,” David Hill of EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) said during a recent forum in Rifle on options for making more use of natural gas in vehicles.
Also participating were Swalnick; a state official; and representatives of Clean Energy, a company that was founded by T. Boone Pickens and owns 170 natural gas fueling stations; and FuelTek Conversion Corp., which is based in Commerce City and converts vehicles to run on natural gas.
Stacey Simms, senior manager of the renewable energy program of the Governor’s Energy Office, joined by telephone in the Rifle forum and was impressed by the fact that it even happened. She had tried to organize something similar four or five years ago.
Much has changed since then. Estimates of domestic natural gas supplies have been boosted. Pressure is mounting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants by converting to cleaner energy forms such as natural gas. U.S. motorists got a scare last year when gasoline prices soared above $4 per gallon and stayed there for several months. And after the economy slowed, falling natural gas prices helped force Colorado’s energy industry to sharply curtail drilling.
For energy companies such as EnCana, which sponsored the Rifle event, promoting a transportation use for a clean-burning, domestically produced fuel also creates a new customer base for the gas it produces in states including Colorado.
Seeking to lead by example, EnCana has undertaken an effort to make more use of natural-gas-powered vehicles itself.
That effort includes converting four fleet pickups in the Denver-Julesburg Basin to drive on natural gas and buying eight Honda Civic GX cars for employee use.
The company plans to convert its 52-vehicle fleet in the DJ Basin by 2011, and spokeswoman Wendy Wiedenbeck said it hopes to eventually convert its entire U.S. fleet.
EnCana plans to sponsor multiple forums to foster discussion about overcoming the hurdles to increased use of vehicles powered by compressed or liquefied natural gas.
Kathy Hall, Western Slope representative of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, also thinks circumstances are converging in support of this movement.
“Everything has a time, and this is the time,” she said.
Natural gas can help the country wean itself off foreign oil, she said. And with the pipeline capacity limited for exporting Colorado gas, using the gas for vehicles provides an expanded in-state market.
Mike Braaten, government affairs and energy coordinator for the city of Rifle, said he’d love to see a natural gas fuel station open there.
“We’re always looking at local ways to increase the demand for natural gas,” he said.
Grants and state and federal tax credits and rebates aim to help overcome some of the hurdles. Ninety Clean Cities coalitions exist around the United States, funded by the Department of Energy, with the goal of reducing dependence on petroleum in transportation. The groups provide grant-writing assistance and other support for projects such as Colorado’s.
Todd Hollenbeck, manager of the Regional Transportation Planning Office in Mesa County, said the project would include purchase of several new Grand Valley Transit buses powered by natural gas.
He said using locally produced natural gas “provides a very good option for us,” particularly if grant funding can help offset the cost. Fleet managers are at the mercy of the fluctuating price of diesel, and using natural gas could result in significant savings, he said.
Terry Franklin, deputy director of utilities and streets in Grand Junction, said the city’s CNG station could be supplied in part by biodigester gas generated at the city/county wastewater treatment plant and converted to CNG. That gas could provide an annual savings of $300,000 to $400,000 in reduced gasoline costs for the city, through means such as conversion of garbage trucks to natural gas use.
Efforts to boost natural gas use in vehicles received qualified praise from Joyce Wizer, secretary of the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance, which has dealt with the energy industry’s effects on residents of Garfield County, where drilling occurs.
She said natural gas is “definitely better than burning petroleum products,” but it still creates a carbon footprint.
She said she has visited EnCana rigs that burn 800 gallons of diesel a day. “This is definitely not clean-burning,” she said.
EnCana has begun making use of natural gas to power some of its rigs.
Some challenges to meet
Getting motorists to consider natural gas as a fuel choice is complicated by significant up-front challenges:
• The availability of fueling stations is limited.
• Honda makes the only natural-gas-powered vehicle for the U.S. market, unlike the multiple choices available in Europe.
• Converting a vehicle for natural gas use can cost $10,000 to $15,000.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
For Natalia Swalnick, stopping to refuel her Honda with natural gas instead of gasoline inevitably leads to a teachable moment.
“Every time I fuel up, someone hops out of their car. ‘What is that? What were you doing?” Swalnick is asked.
Such occasions let Swalnick, manager of the Denver Metro Clean Cities Coalition, preach the merits of natural gas as a clean-burning, cheaper fuel alternative to petroleum for vehicles.
No such educational opportunities exist for Swalnick along the Interstate 70 corridor in western Colorado, however. No public compressed natural gas (CNG) stations can be found along the interstate from Denver to the Utah border.
A broad coalition hopes to change that. It consists of everyone from natural gas industry interests to groups such as Swalnick’s to the state of Colorado and local governments.
Gov. Bill Ritter’s Energy Office recently applied for a $10 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to go toward a $27.6 million project to boost use of natural gas in vehicles in Colorado.
The public-private partnership proposes to deploy 68 heavy-duty natural gas vehicles and build several CNG stations. These include a public station at Grand Junction city shop property on River Road, and a second, private station for Mesa County and Grand Valley Transit at a public works facility in the Whitewater area.
“Obviously, Grand Junction and where we’re at here, it would be nice to have a station,” David Hill of EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) said during a recent forum in Rifle on options for making more use of natural gas in vehicles.
Also participating were Swalnick; a state official; and representatives of Clean Energy, a company that was founded by T. Boone Pickens and owns 170 natural gas fueling stations; and FuelTek Conversion Corp., which is based in Commerce City and converts vehicles to run on natural gas.
Stacey Simms, senior manager of the renewable energy program of the Governor’s Energy Office, joined by telephone in the Rifle forum and was impressed by the fact that it even happened. She had tried to organize something similar four or five years ago.
Much has changed since then. Estimates of domestic natural gas supplies have been boosted. Pressure is mounting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants by converting to cleaner energy forms such as natural gas. U.S. motorists got a scare last year when gasoline prices soared above $4 per gallon and stayed there for several months. And after the economy slowed, falling natural gas prices helped force Colorado’s energy industry to sharply curtail drilling.
For energy companies such as EnCana, which sponsored the Rifle event, promoting a transportation use for a clean-burning, domestically produced fuel also creates a new customer base for the gas it produces in states including Colorado.
Seeking to lead by example, EnCana has undertaken an effort to make more use of natural-gas-powered vehicles itself.
That effort includes converting four fleet pickups in the Denver-Julesburg Basin to drive on natural gas and buying eight Honda Civic GX cars for employee use.
The company plans to convert its 52-vehicle fleet in the DJ Basin by 2011, and spokeswoman Wendy Wiedenbeck said it hopes to eventually convert its entire U.S. fleet.
EnCana plans to sponsor multiple forums to foster discussion about overcoming the hurdles to increased use of vehicles powered by compressed or liquefied natural gas.
Kathy Hall, Western Slope representative of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, also thinks circumstances are converging in support of this movement.
“Everything has a time, and this is the time,” she said.
Natural gas can help the country wean itself off foreign oil, she said. And with the pipeline capacity limited for exporting Colorado gas, using the gas for vehicles provides an expanded in-state market.
Mike Braaten, government affairs and energy coordinator for the city of Rifle, said he’d love to see a natural gas fuel station open there.
“We’re always looking at local ways to increase the demand for natural gas,” he said.
Grants and state and federal tax credits and rebates aim to help overcome some of the hurdles. Ninety Clean Cities coalitions exist around the United States, funded by the Department of Energy, with the goal of reducing dependence on petroleum in transportation. The groups provide grant-writing assistance and other support for projects such as Colorado’s.
Todd Hollenbeck, manager of the Regional Transportation Planning Office in Mesa County, said the project would include purchase of several new Grand Valley Transit buses powered by natural gas.
He said using locally produced natural gas “provides a very good option for us,” particularly if grant funding can help offset the cost. Fleet managers are at the mercy of the fluctuating price of diesel, and using natural gas could result in significant savings, he said.
Terry Franklin, deputy director of utilities and streets in Grand Junction, said the city’s CNG station could be supplied in part by biodigester gas generated at the city/county wastewater treatment plant and converted to CNG. That gas could provide an annual savings of $300,000 to $400,000 in reduced gasoline costs for the city, through means such as conversion of garbage trucks to natural gas use.
Efforts to boost natural gas use in vehicles received qualified praise from Joyce Wizer, secretary of the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance, which has dealt with the energy industry’s effects on residents of Garfield County, where drilling occurs.
She said natural gas is “definitely better than burning petroleum products,” but it still creates a carbon footprint.
She said she has visited EnCana rigs that burn 800 gallons of diesel a day. “This is definitely not clean-burning,” she said.
EnCana has begun making use of natural gas to power some of its rigs.
Some challenges to meet
Getting motorists to consider natural gas as a fuel choice is complicated by significant up-front challenges:
• The availability of fueling stations is limited.
• Honda makes the only natural-gas-powered vehicle for the U.S. market, unlike the multiple choices available in Europe.
• Converting a vehicle for natural gas use can cost $10,000 to $15,000.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Donna Smith on -
The more I read and hear about CNG the more I like it. I'm surprised though, that with this fuel crisis that our country has been facing, we are not hearing as much as we should about it.
If we were to slowly introduce ideas such as natural gas and other alternative fuels, over a period of time, the transition would be less fearful and more accepted by the population ( seems to work for the government...:))
I just read Desiree's Blog Post Tonight and thought it was very eye opening and full of ideas.
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Permalink Reply by Frank on -
Alternative fuels such as natural gas and propane have been around for decades now so I'm not sure how much more slowly these ideas can be introduced. Some of the problems with convincing businesses (and people) to switch have already been covered in the points above. I suspect that $10,000-$15,000 is for a conversion like the BAF Crown Victoria. CNG conversions without an EPA/CARB-certified system would be closer to around $7000 and would be very similar in many ways to a propane injection conversion.
Previous to the US EPA's and the CARB's involvement with alternative fuels, a conversion just involved the selection of suitable parts and their installation. The EPA now requires that the conversion must meet their very stringent requirements on both gasoline and the alternative fuel. Meeting the requirements on the alternative fuel is relatively easy but expensive and time-consuming. In some cases, the vehicle cannot even pass the EPA test on gasoline, something that is beyond the control of the alternative fuel system manufacturer. Even after getting the initial certification, the alternative fuel system manufacturer must also pay to renew the certificate annually. The initial certification typically costs over $100,000 and can easily take 6 months so there is only the rest of the year for the manufacturer to recoup his investment.
Not only that, with many States adopting CARB requirements, CARB also requires that vehicle conversions maintain their emissions within the specification over many years or face severe penalties. This ensures that alternative fuel system manufacturers make conversions for only a very select group of fleet vehicles. The initial CARB certification typically costs much more than the EPA certificate but the small consolation is that a CARB certificate can lead to an EPA certificate (not vice versa).
Without having a refueling market of any significance due to the very limited number of CNG conversions available, natural gas utilities really have no incentive to install public refueling stations. Without any public CNG stations, it doesn't make any sense to have a CNG-fueled vehicle. For the few CNG stations in operation, the O&M costs have to be spread over a small amount of fuel, which causes the fuel to be far more expensive than what would be required to have a reasonable payback on a conversion.
It's nice that the Denver Metro Clean Cities Coalition bought some Honda Civic GX cars for demonstration. However, Denver's CNG price of $2.00/GGE (vs $2.32-$2.65/gal for gasoline) ensures that there will be no way to justify the added cost of the Civic GX, not even if Natalia spent 4 hours on the highway everyday. Using Honda's 250 mile and 8 GGE fill-up ratings, the most she could save would be $934 - $1898/year. The incremental cost of a Civic GX over a standard GX is $6830 so the payback would be 7.3 to 3.6 years if she drove it 91,250 miles/year in Denver. YMMV.
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