Why CNG?

CNG is an abbreviation for Compressed Natural Gas. Compressed Natural Gas is exactly the same as the fuel that is delivered to our customer’s homes

, but is simply compressed so that we can store more of it in one place. This allows us to use CNG to fuel generators, tractor trailers, and even your own automobile! CNG is a great alternative fuel because it is cleaner, cheaper, and greener than gasoline.

Cleaner

Natural gas consists primarily of methane, a molecule with the chemical formula CH₄. Due to methane having only one carbon atom in its chemical structure (CH₄), it releases approximately one-eighth the carbon atom emissions that gasoline (which is largely made up of octane, C₈H₁₈) releases. Even against a renewable source of energy, ethanol (C₂H₆O), natural gas still emits half of the carbon atoms that ethanol emits.

Cheaper

As the United States continues to import oil, the price of gasoline will continue to rise. Thanks to the increased production of natural gas caused by the fracking of shale, among other techniques, the price of natural gas is at a low. According to AAA, as of June 2015, the national average for the price of gasoline was $2.75.

When the Greater Dickson Gas Authority CNG station comes online, we will be selling CNG to any properly equipped vehicle, at the gallon of gas equivalent (gge) of less than $2.00!

Greener

CNG is not only cleaner, but is also greener and better for the environment. In addition to reduced carbon emissions, CNG powered vehicles have great emission reductions

such as:

• Carbon monoxide emission reduced up to 75%
• Nitrogen oxide emission reduced by approximately 50%
• Particle matter emissions reduction of up to 95%

Source for Above

Research is also being conducted into further reducing the environmental impacts of natural gas fracking and drilling, in addition to the research being done in increasing the efficiency of natural gas . Thanks to the early adoption of new natural gas technology, CNG is on the fast track to becoming the best new alternative energy source for transitioning from fossil fuels.

8 Comments on "Why Use Compressed Natural Gas?"

eugene on Thu, 2nd Jul 2015 10:01 am 



I am absolutely convinced that we will discover a solution to all our problems and can motor happily into the future in large SUVs full of happy children who will do the same in their lives.

Of course all of this will be done by madly printing enormous sums of money to pay for it all.

Frankly, I don’t think we stand a prayer but dreaming the impossible dream is an American obsession. Facing reality is not.

dave thompson on Thu, 2nd Jul 2015 11:48 am 



“Carbon monoxide emission reduced up to 75%
Nitrogen oxide emission reduced by approximately 50%
Particle matter emissions reduction of up to 95%”
AND gullibility levels of stupidity based on ignorance up 100%.

mbnewtrain on Thu, 2nd Jul 2015 5:01 pm 



I am not sure what the comparison is based on, but compared to modern EPA rated Tier 4 diesel engines the following is true:
1. CO emissions are not reduced because diesel engines have near zero CO2 output.
2. Nitrogen oxide emissions may be somewhat lower for CNG although diesels have only about 10% of the NOX compared to 10 or 20 years ago.
3 Particulate matter emitted by these modern diesels is nearly zero with current filters used.

So, CNG engines don’t reduce pollution much but do require more fuel and thus produce more CO2. This is due to the diesel having 33% thermal efficiency while the CNG (spark ignition) engine is 23% efficient, based on chemical energy to mechanical energy conversion. And when the leakage of CNG is taken into account, the CNG engines create more climate altering gases.

Ted Wilson on Thu, 2nd Jul 2015 9:21 pm 



There are 22 million Natgas powered vehicles worldwide, but there are only 150,000 in USA.
Oil companies will never allow any fuel other than gasoline/diesel here.

joe on Thu, 2nd Jul 2015 10:21 pm 



There is no reason not to include cng as a part of mass transit for exactly the reasons outlined. If you switch, you have to rebuild the entire fuel network, but the geopolitics changes, Russia and Iran are the biggest players. USA and Europe have made isolating these 2 nations the centrepiece of their foreign policies in regard to energy strategy for the last 50 years. It requires a culture change at the top of US leadership and a change in allience globally. The implications of a switch to cng are not just gas, you have to build a financial system to pay for and support it, to do that you need friendly and good relations with the biggest suppliers. Fraking would not supply the world needs, not without tearing up the environment, and making the benefits of cng a pointless effort.

Davy on Fri, 3rd Jul 2015 2:27 am 



CNG, is a niche with appropriate applications. There may be some expansion in mass transit and over the road trucking especially transcontinental. The US already has an extensive gas network so infrastructure is not the biggest issue. The bigger issue is the gas resource itself. We must not forget that gas heats our homes and our food. We are increasingly using gas for electrical generation.

I personally feel gas as a transport fuel will never leave the ground as a significant player for reasons of time, money, and scaling. Yet, since it is such a large resource it has a place in the mix. As modern man’s complex world decays we will need each and every niche to fill the gaps that are going to open up dangerously in the coming years. Many locals will have gas as their optimum resource in a collapsing world.

Environmentally I find clean gas to be on par with clean coal IOW an oxymoron spoken by morons. The effects of leaking methane cannot be advertised away. I see atmospheric methane as one of our most pressing dangers. It disgusts me when I see the usual clean coal, green gas, and even renewable AltE. They are all dirty and fossil fuel we just like to tell ourselves otherwise.

Apneaman on Fri, 3rd Jul 2015 7:13 pm 



Water Use Rises as Fracking Expands

And certain wells use far more water than others, a possible threat in dry regions

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/water-use-rises-as-fracking-expands/

ghung on Sat, 4th Jul 2015 12:08 am 



From the Greater Dickson Gas Authority, Dickson, Tennessee? WTF?