Filed under: GM, Natural Gas
Larry Burns promotes natural gas as an alternative
Natural gas has a lot of potential advantages as a fuel because its simple molecular structure and gaseous form at ambient temperatures helps it burn very completely. Unlike gasoline and diesel fuel it emits virtually no unburned hydrocarbons,particulates and volatile organic compounds. It does of course produce carbon dioxide but carbon monoxide emissions are also low. Over on the GM Fast Lane blog, VP of R&D and Strategic Planning Larry Burns has a post extolling the virtues of natural gas. In the near term it is certainly viable as a direct vehicle fuel and automakers have dabbled in offering CNG vehicles over the years. None have been commercially successful in the the US market except for fleet applications although they are popular in some other markets around the world. While natural gas is relatively plentiful and inexpensive using it in compressed form has the same issue of bulk that hydrogen gas does. Nonetheless offering CNG versions of trucks and vans for commercial use could prove a better alternative right now with elevated liquid fuel prices. However, using natural gas longer term to fuel power plants to produce electricity for cars like the Volt and pure battery electrics is probably a better option. Another source of natural gas is the methane emitted from land-fill sites and dairy farms. If this gas is captured and burned to generate energy, it would actually be advantageous from a greenhouse gas standpoint. Methane has ten times the greenhouse gas effect of carbon dioxide so even the increased emissions of CO2 would be a net benefit if it displaces methane emissions. [Source: GM Fastlane Blog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John Baldwin 1:27PM (8/01/2008)
Later this year in Europe, VW are launching the CNG Passat.
My view is that VW’s CNG Passat will be the first quality mass produced and mass marketed CNG car ever built (the Honda Civic sold in the US has not been made in serious volumes and has the fatal flaw of no petrol fallback.)
Volkswagen showed the new Passat at the Geneva Motor Show that uses both natural gas and petrol. That’s not new, but it’s the first time it has been combined with the VW TSI engine which uses both a supercharger and a turbocharger operating sequentially to provide high power (150 bhp), great economy, exceptional range (420km on CNG, almost the same again on petrol reserve) and meet Euro 5 emission standards from a small capacity (1.4 litre) engine. With a top speed of 130 mph and the capability to accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 9.7 seconds, the Passat Estate TSI EcoFuel remains viable for everyday use and in most driving conditions the vehicle consumes 5.2 kg of natural gas every 100 km. We are moving into uncharted territory: the CNG Passat has the potential to be a transformational vehicle.
The CNG Zafira being launched in Europe in 2009 will be just as good, we can't wait!
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Brent 1:28PM (8/01/2008)
All aboard the T. Boone Express!
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a.brien 1:46PM (8/01/2008)
I knew that i was rod each time i went to the restroom, especially if it's in a service station on the road near farms or in a town where there is sewage water.
Crime pay a lot these days. The more you pollute (crude hydro-carbone), the more you make money and the more you receive subsidies from goverment.
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Mike Z 1:49PM (8/01/2008)
The issue with a bi-fuel car is that nat gas is 120 Octane, so to make an engine with a compression ratio that would work for gasoline would waste a lot of that octane.
Either way, there seems to be a be movement towards natural gas, and based on advances in shale gas It seems to have a real argument behind it.
Sometime however I wonder if GTL to make synthetic diesel might be a better option.
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John Baldwin 3:24PM (8/01/2008)
Problem with GTL is that it requires about 30% of the natural gas to used to crack open the methane molecule and create diesel molecules. Then there is the problem of getting neat GTL to vehicles.....by making LNG instead and then transporting that, there is at least a 20% CO2 benefit and a big energy advantage. No wonder Gazprom are going down the CNG route rather than the GTL route:
http://www.sbgi.org.uk/ContentFiles/JB%20Article%20Gas%20Matters.pdf
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Mike Z 4:16PM (8/01/2008)
Isn't 30% approx the efficiency of a diesel engine over an OTTO engine? So wouldn't it net out?
a.brien 3:44PM (8/01/2008)
I mean 'rob' not 'rod'----sorry, LOL.
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MarkR 5:24PM (8/01/2008)
Yep, T. Boone Express is currently accepting boarding passes. The sooner we get off foreign oil the better.
and hopefully soon after that off hydrocarbons all together.
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meme 5:52PM (8/01/2008)
The Pickens Plan doesn't work, at least not as described. Natural gas is mainly used for peaking power. Wind decreases the need for baseload power, not peaking; it *increases* the need for peaking power.
The wind and CNG-car components of his plan are at best disjoint, and at worst, directly competing with each other. That doesn't mean that a variant of the plan couldn't work -- one that involved a lot more production of natural gas, for example. But as described, his plan simply doesn't work.
CanaDoc 5:59PM (8/01/2008)
"Another source of natural gas is the methane emitted from land-fill sites and dairy farms. If this gas is captured..." not my idea of a green-collar dream job...
On a related note: I think the gov't is missing some easy money here... tax canned beans...and justify it by the reduction of methane emmissions.
"Methane has ten times the greenhouse gas effect of carbon dioxide..." I think the gov't is missing some easy money here... tax canned beans...and justify it by the reduction of methane emmissions.
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CanaDoc 6:08PM (8/01/2008)
Ugh, must proof comments better before posting...
Add my name to the list for an 'edit post' feature, Mr. Site Admin.
Sasparilla 6:01PM (8/01/2008)
Something to note, the VW vehicle talked about in the first comment has a turbocharger allowing different compression ratio's based on the fuel (petrol or CNG). This is done with some out of the US flex fuel vehicles as well making the Ethanol penalty much smaller - since the engine can flex via the turbocharger to be aligned, compression wise, for the fuel its using. With the fact that CNG prices have been doing nothing but going up (without transportation demand) and European CNG production is peaking (with US and Canadian production already peaked), I'm sure its not a good idea to have transportation start adding to demand on CNG at this point (capacity isn't there right now).
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Mike Z 10:48PM (8/01/2008)
There are some interesting technologies that appear to be able to unlock a large amount of natural gas reserves. Also natural gas wells deplete lineally, so the concept of 'peaking' is just not valid.