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Wyoming should take the lead in alternative energy |
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Written by BILL SNIFFIN, Writers on the Range
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Wednesday, 01 October 2008 |
Wyoming is one of the largest natural-gas producing states, so why isn’t the
state leading the nation in powering vehicles with this abundant fuel? If the
price of gasoline stays high and a natural gas-powered car can run on
$1-to-$1.25 per gallon-equivalent cost, however, I think we’ll see the light:
We’ll understand that it makes economic sense for us to develop cars that run on
natural gas.
The state could help in a variety of ways: It could give a subsidy or tax break
to companies that put in natural gas stations. It could reward the car dealers
that sell -- and the consumers who buy -- CNG cars, as the vehicles are called
for their use of compressed natural gas.
With all the talk across the
country about the proliferation of hybrid cars and even the re-appearance of
all-electric cars, it’s past time for natural gas-rich Wyoming to jump into the
energy fray and jump-start this technology.
Not surprisingly, there are
problems to solve first. One of the biggest has been the lack of fueling
stations. Wyoming could pioneer the stations, but in the meantime, a Canadian
company has developed a system where you can re-fuel your car overnight using
your own system in your garage at home. It is admittedly a slow process; the gas
must be pumped at 3,600 pounds per square inch in order to become compressed and
fit in the tank. Other downsides are that during extremely cold weather, CNG
efficiency suffers, and in small CNG cars the tank pretty much wipes out the
trunk space.
Yet already, CNG vehicles have won a host
of champions. One of the biggest is T. Boone Pickens, the legendary Texas
oilman. Nowadays, he’s promoting natural gas-powered cars, wind turbines and oil
sands. He knows that we don’t produce enough oil to sustain our needs even
though we know we need to cut down on imported oil. This year we’re sending $700
billion out of the country to feed our oil addiction. Switching to natural gas
means that less oil needs to be imported.
Wyoming’s next-door neighbor,
Utah, is already a big booster of CNG vehicles. It has promoted the construction
of 749 special service stations featuring the fuel, and more than 100 Utah
businesses and government agencies are now using vehicles powered by compressed
natural gas.
One of my coffee buddies was telling me about his
son-in-law, who lives in Brigham City, Utah, and commutes 144 miles a day to his
job in Magna. He says the fellow expects to save many thousands of dollars a
year when he takes delivery of a Honda Civic GX car later this month. This is
the car the EPA calls “the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle in the world.”
It burns compressed natural gas, unlike the gas-guzzling Toyota Sequoia he had
been driving.
Honda has been making these CNG cars for some time; in
fact, there are about 142,000 natural gas-powered vehicles in this country today
and over 8 million worldwide. The technology is proven and works particularly
well for big-city buses.
But do these cars save money? Airline pilot
Jeff Church of Los Angeles says they do. He put 53,000 miles on his 2003 model,
and with his home unit, he says, he only pays 98 cents per gallon for fuel. He
boasts that it’s the perfect vehicle for folks who drive a lot of
miles.
Last time I checked, Wyoming people drive more miles per capita
than just about anyone in the country. And big pickups and SUVS probably
outnumber cars in our state. Any way to lower the costs of these gas-wasters
would be mighty appreciated. We need to get on this bandwagon soon. T. Boone
Pickens, already on board, is no dummy. He believes in wind, and we know that
Wyoming is just as windy as his West Texas. He also believes in natural gas, and
Wyoming has natural gas in spades. If this technology can be made to work in our
cool, high-altitude climate, Wyoming could lead the nation in converting to an
alternative-energy system of compressed natural gas.
Bill Sniffin is a
contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org).
He is a longtime reporter and columnist in Lander, Wyoming.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 01 October 2008 )
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