Guest Author - William Charles Vetter

Open up your imagination for a moment and imagine being able to fill up your car every night right in your own garage and leaving home every morning with a full fuel tank and paying only $1.25 per gallon to do it. Imagine also that your home fueled car is more environmentally friendly than the famous Toyota Prius Hybrid. Imagine that your fuel is not imported and that the supply is virtually limitless and can also be created from any organic substance, even from garbage.

No, you’re not dreaming
Now open your eyes and realize that you do not need to dream at all and this is no fantasy. That’s right. Everything that I said above is absolutely true and available today. The Honda Civic GX is currently the only Natural Gas powered car in mass production. It is available at select Honda dealers in larger markets or a Honda dealer can order one for you. A company by the name of Fuel Maker has developed a home natural gas refueling appliance called Phill installed on the wall in your garage, it allows you to refuel your little Honda Civic after which it can go about 200 miles on a full tank. There are also public natural gas refueling stations spread out across the country. The little Civic GX runs so clean that there are claims that on a smoggy day in LA the little Civic GX exhaust emission is actually cleaner than the air that it breathes in.

What is Natural Gas?
Methane, more commonly known to most people as natural gas is the most plentiful petroleum product on Earth. It is a very simple and light molecule made up of one carbon atom and 4 hydrogen atom, scientifically known as CH4. In its compressed state it is commonly referred to as CNG, Compressed Natural Gas, it can also be liquefied for bulk transport in tankers, in this state it is referred to as LNG. 98% of our natural gas is domestic, currently 50% of US homes have a natural gas supply installed. The decomposition of any organic matter releases large amounts of methane and it is so plentiful at oil refineries that it is considered to be a nuisance. Animals make it internally and it is an excellent source for jokes, embarrassment and laughs. Making methane from decomposed vegetation is more efficient than alcohol made from corn. Alcohol requires sugar for fermentation and I also need to mention of course that corn can feed people. Many people fear that the world may one day face a huge political issue of a financially well off populace driving big fancy cars as poor people starve to death. Methane has little chance of sparking such an issue.

What are the some of the other benefits of CNG
The simple form of the ch4 molecule nearly assures complete combustion since each molecule contains 4 time more hydrogen than carbon, it emits mostly water vapor and very little Co2 green house gas. Engines that run on CNG do not require as much maintenance as their gasoline powered equivalents, mostly because CNG's clean burning qualities don't contaminate engine oil and internal engine components the way gasoline combustion does. CNG engines enjoy much longer lives and don’t require complicated pollution control devices because combustion is nearly complete and no poisonous gasses are emitted. Gasoline contains many harmful cancer causing agents in its liquid base, like benzene, toluene and Methy Tertiary Butyl Ether. Besides all of the physical benefits of CNG there are also federal and state government incentives, like tax credits and rebates. In some states like California the Civic GX is the only new car that can still get an HOV lane single passenger car pool sticker, and a silver one at that, reserved only for zero emissions cars, like the 100% electric car. A Prius has never qualified for the silver sticker. The yellow ones are no longer available, as the hybrid allotment of 75,000 has run out.

So why aren’t CNG cars more popular
I wish I knew the answer to that. It seems strange that with all of the benefits that methane powered cars have they never really took off. It’s almost as though it has been a very well kept secret. US automakers built several methane powered models starting in the 1990’s but demand was so low that both GM and Ford stopped production after the 2004 model year. Both car makers still make CNG fleet vehicles, mostly for large corporations or government use. If demand were to change suddenly both are ready to jump right back in. It seems that Honda is the only car maker still offering a methane powered car for the masses. At this time Honda seems committed to methane power and is rumored to be using all of the experienced gained from methane power to use in its eventual development of a hydrogen powered car, since hydrogen is also a gas and may use similar storage technology. American Honda rolls the CNG variant off of the same East Liberty, Ohio assembly line as the gasoline version so production can be increased if demand ever goes up.

Is it the fault of the energy companies, car companies or just us?
Consumer’s reluctance to embrace CNG powered cars is somewhat of a mystery. I think that people hate change more than anything. There could also be other mitigating or maybe even nefarious factors. I don’t remember seeing large ad campaigns showing nice looking actors and actresses driving down the streets with their smiling kids and dog. No big oil company ad campaigns emploring people to include natural gas into our collective futures. Certainly there are some draw backs to CNG, things like limited public fueling stations and limited range but I doubt that most consumers have even bothered to investigate CNG cars enough to know that there are limitations to owning one, let alone the benefits of owning one.

So again, it seems that Einstein’s original prophetic quote remains unequivocal, “Everything will change except the way that man thinks”.