European Natural Gas Vehicle Association
Fuel alternatives to petroleum are available, with much focus these days on hydrogen. But most people don't know that cars, truck, buses and almost any vehicle with an internal combustion engine can be fuelled on the same familiar, clean fuel commonly used for cooking and home heating: natural gas.
Comprised mostly of methane (CH4), natural gas is a naturally occurring fossil fuel (like petroleum) but is lighter than air, odorless, and is the least polluting, most abundant fuel worldwide. Also, biogas (methane) is a renewable resource made from sewage, agricultural waste, and urban garbage. Natural gas commonly is confused with another gaseous fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). LPG, a combination of butane and propane is produced either from petroleum or extracted from natural gas, is stored as a liquid at about 15 bar but is a gas at atmospheric pressure. LPG fumes are heavier than air. When leaks occur it gathers invisibly (and is flammable) at ground-level.
Natural gas vehicles (NGVs) have been used extensively in Italy since the mid-1930s. (There are 400,000 there today). It is compressed to 200 bar in strong storage cylinders and is used in the same internal combustion engines as petrol, modified to use gaseous instead of liquid fuel. With additional modifications, diesel engines also can run on natural gas. Today there are 2.8 million NGVs worldwide.
The advantages of natural gas and NGVs are well known:
- NGVs are the low-emissions benchmark for all traditional vehicles. There are no particulates, very little carbon monoxide, only 15 percent of the smog-forming hydrocarbon emissions as petrol, and global warming gases (CO2 and methane combined) are 20-25 percent less than the best petrol vehicle on today's market.
- Natural gas is safe since it has a very narrow flammability range (5-15 percent gas to air) and is lighter than air, so it dissipates into the atmosphere in case it leaks.
- Natural gas is inexpensive as an energy source and typically about 30-50 percent less than petroleum fuels.
- Natural gas is abundant worldwide with as much or more ready availability than oil. With potential as a renewable resource as well, it is delivered to customers through millions of miles of pipeline (1.3 million kms in Europe; about 1.3 million miles in the U.S.,) safely, cleanly, and with more transparency even than electricity through above-ground wires.
As all fuels, NGVs have their drawbacks, mostly because natural gas must be stored at high pressure, requiring storage cylinders of steel, aluminum or carbon fibre-wrapped composite materials. Vehicles can run on either natural gas or petrol but the range on natural gas is about a third of petrol. Countries worldwide where NGVs are popular are also installing fuelling stations, but today most markets still suffer from the commercialization chicken and egg syndrome; which comes first the vehicles or the fuelling stations? There are about 50 manufacturers worldwide producing about 150 different models of vehicles and engines, but NGVs continue to represent only a very small fraction of the 500 million vehicles worldwide.
To become commercially successful all alternative fuels need government support, support from the respective fuel industries (i.e. natural gas companies, in the case of NGVs), and interest from vehicle manufacturers to deliver product to customers that perform like petrol or diesel vehicles but are more environmentally beneficial. Also, the fuel must be cheaper than petrol or diesel, which must involve awareness by government to appropriately tax the more polluting fuels while providing low-tax incentives for cleaner fuels.
The European Commission has a transport policy that targets to replace 20 percent of petroleum used in the transport sector by the year 2020. The replacement fuels would be: 5 percent biofuels (which natural gas qualifies as a renewable resource); 10 percent natural gas; and 5 percent hydrogen. For the foreseeable future almost all hydrogen usable in vehicles will be made from natural gas (CH4 - one part carbon and four parts hydrogen). If achieved, the result would be 23 million NGVs on Europe's highways, including passenger cars, taxis, buses and delivery vehicles.
The UK is also ambitiously developing transport policies to reduce emissions and improve vehicular congestion. The London congestion charge is one example. Fortunately, NGVs are exempt from these charges due to their beneficial emissions characteristics. But if NGVs are to reach the European Commission proposed targets and achieve their potential to reduce pollution and contribute to energy security, governments must take strong actions to: revamp the tax regime for fuels (polluters pay while clean fuels are rewarded); provide additional incentives for consumers (such as free commuter parking or special access lanes at airports and train stations for natural gas taxis); run more government vehicles on natural gas; work with the natural gas and petroleum industries to encourage the installation of more fuelling stations; and generally communicate the virtues of NGVs and other fuel alternatives to the general public.
There is much publicity about the potential of electric vehicles, hydrogen, and 'sexy' technologies like fuel cells, whose panacea virtues are touted but can't be realized for another 20 to 50 years or more. NGVs are available today but their potential to reduce pollution and contribute to a better balanced, more secure energy future must receive greater support from public/private partnerships if their contribution is to be realized.
Dr. Jeffrey M. Seisler is the director of the European Natural Gas Vehicle Association (ENGVA) based in the Netherlands (www.engva.org). This article was originally written for Sustainable Development UK Partnership Media Group Ltd.
Comprised mostly of methane (CH4), natural gas is a naturally occurring fossil fuel (like petroleum) but is lighter than air, odorless, and is the least polluting, most abundant fuel worldwide. Also, biogas (methane) is a renewable resource made from sewage, agricultural waste, and urban garbage. Natural gas commonly is confused with another gaseous fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). LPG, a combination of butane and propane is produced either from petroleum or extracted from natural gas, is stored as a liquid at about 15 bar but is a gas at atmospheric pressure. LPG fumes are heavier than air. When leaks occur it gathers invisibly (and is flammable) at ground-level.
Natural gas vehicles (NGVs) have been used extensively in Italy since the mid-1930s. (There are 400,000 there today). It is compressed to 200 bar in strong storage cylinders and is used in the same internal combustion engines as petrol, modified to use gaseous instead of liquid fuel. With additional modifications, diesel engines also can run on natural gas. Today there are 2.8 million NGVs worldwide.
The advantages of natural gas and NGVs are well known:
- NGVs are the low-emissions benchmark for all traditional vehicles. There are no particulates, very little carbon monoxide, only 15 percent of the smog-forming hydrocarbon emissions as petrol, and global warming gases (CO2 and methane combined) are 20-25 percent less than the best petrol vehicle on today's market.
- Natural gas is safe since it has a very narrow flammability range (5-15 percent gas to air) and is lighter than air, so it dissipates into the atmosphere in case it leaks.
- Natural gas is inexpensive as an energy source and typically about 30-50 percent less than petroleum fuels.
- Natural gas is abundant worldwide with as much or more ready availability than oil. With potential as a renewable resource as well, it is delivered to customers through millions of miles of pipeline (1.3 million kms in Europe; about 1.3 million miles in the U.S.,) safely, cleanly, and with more transparency even than electricity through above-ground wires.
As all fuels, NGVs have their drawbacks, mostly because natural gas must be stored at high pressure, requiring storage cylinders of steel, aluminum or carbon fibre-wrapped composite materials. Vehicles can run on either natural gas or petrol but the range on natural gas is about a third of petrol. Countries worldwide where NGVs are popular are also installing fuelling stations, but today most markets still suffer from the commercialization chicken and egg syndrome; which comes first the vehicles or the fuelling stations? There are about 50 manufacturers worldwide producing about 150 different models of vehicles and engines, but NGVs continue to represent only a very small fraction of the 500 million vehicles worldwide.
To become commercially successful all alternative fuels need government support, support from the respective fuel industries (i.e. natural gas companies, in the case of NGVs), and interest from vehicle manufacturers to deliver product to customers that perform like petrol or diesel vehicles but are more environmentally beneficial. Also, the fuel must be cheaper than petrol or diesel, which must involve awareness by government to appropriately tax the more polluting fuels while providing low-tax incentives for cleaner fuels.
The European Commission has a transport policy that targets to replace 20 percent of petroleum used in the transport sector by the year 2020. The replacement fuels would be: 5 percent biofuels (which natural gas qualifies as a renewable resource); 10 percent natural gas; and 5 percent hydrogen. For the foreseeable future almost all hydrogen usable in vehicles will be made from natural gas (CH4 - one part carbon and four parts hydrogen). If achieved, the result would be 23 million NGVs on Europe's highways, including passenger cars, taxis, buses and delivery vehicles.
The UK is also ambitiously developing transport policies to reduce emissions and improve vehicular congestion. The London congestion charge is one example. Fortunately, NGVs are exempt from these charges due to their beneficial emissions characteristics. But if NGVs are to reach the European Commission proposed targets and achieve their potential to reduce pollution and contribute to energy security, governments must take strong actions to: revamp the tax regime for fuels (polluters pay while clean fuels are rewarded); provide additional incentives for consumers (such as free commuter parking or special access lanes at airports and train stations for natural gas taxis); run more government vehicles on natural gas; work with the natural gas and petroleum industries to encourage the installation of more fuelling stations; and generally communicate the virtues of NGVs and other fuel alternatives to the general public.
There is much publicity about the potential of electric vehicles, hydrogen, and 'sexy' technologies like fuel cells, whose panacea virtues are touted but can't be realized for another 20 to 50 years or more. NGVs are available today but their potential to reduce pollution and contribute to a better balanced, more secure energy future must receive greater support from public/private partnerships if their contribution is to be realized.
Dr. Jeffrey M. Seisler is the director of the European Natural Gas Vehicle Association (ENGVA) based in the Netherlands (www.engva.org). This article was originally written for Sustainable Development UK Partnership Media Group Ltd.
