tagged w/ CNG
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Diesel era ends for MTA buses
Metro will become the only major transit agency in the U.S. with a fleet run entirely on alternative fuels. Officials say the shift has sharply cut emissions of cancer-causing pollution.
Buses
The MTA took delivery of its first natural gas buses in 1995. The technology has increased the price of a standard bus by about $50,000. Diesel coaches cost around $400,000. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
By Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times
January 12, 2011
After almost two decades of effort to reduce vehicle emissions, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority will retire its last diesel bus Wednesday and become the only major transit agency in the nation with a fleet that is totally equipped with alternative-fuel technologies.
In an urban area where diesel buses began operating in 1940, the MTA now has 2,221 buses powered by compressed natural gas, as well as one electric bus and six gasoline-electric hybrids.
Transit officials estimate that the elimination of diesel engines has reduced the release of cancer-causing particulates from the bus fleet by 80% and greenhouse gases by about 300,000 pounds a day in one of the smoggiest areas of the country.
MTA officials say that compressed natural gas buses cost more to buy and maintain than those powered by diesel but that the increased expenses are offset over the long run by lower fuel costs.
"Not only is this an important step for air quality, it sets the bar for other transportation agencies to follow," said Joe Lyou, president of the Coalition for Clean Air, a statewide organization based in Los Angeles. "Now when an MTA bus pulls up, you don't run away anymore from the huge cloud of exhaust."
The last diesel coach is a 40-foot New Flyer purchased in 1998. It operated out of the MTA's Venice division, where it logged many of its 383,180 miles on routes along Wilshire Boulevard, Venice Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.
No. 3004 will be ceremoniously retired and towed away during an event at the MTA's Support Services Center in downtown Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, MTA Chief Executive Art Leahy, other elected officials and members of the authority's board of directors will be on hand.
Officials plan to auction the vehicle, which is probably worth a few thousand dollars because of its parts. Before the sale, however, mechanics will disable the engine so no one can operate it again.
"We've been on this path for 20 years or longer," Leahy said. "What this means is that we are not importing as much foreign fuel to run our bus system and we are running on much cleaner fuel. It's a great day for Los Angeles."
Statistics from the American Public Transportation Assn. show that the MTA is well ahead of Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York and other large metropolitan areas in replacing diesel buses with more environmentally friendly vehicles.
According to the association, a couple of dozen smaller transit agencies, including those in Oxnard and Santa Barbara, have already replaced their entire fleets, while other agencies across the nation have made significant progress.
"I applaud Metro," said William Millar, president of the transportation association. "It is important to note that this achievement did not happen overnight. L.A. Metro and its predecessor organizations have been at the leading edge of clean bus fuel technology for about a quarter of a century."
The Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission began experimenting with alternative fuels such as natural gas, methanol and ethanol in the late 1980s. Those tests continued after both agencies became the MTA in 1993.
The MTA took delivery of its first natural gas buses in 1995. The technology has increased the price of a standard bus by about $50,000. Diesel coaches cost around $400,000.
Since then, the authority's clean-fuel buses have traveled about a billion miles, and officials say they regularly receive inquiries from transit agencies around the world interested in shifting to alternative power sources.
Though the MTA has converted its fleet, the agency still contracts with private bus lines that rely on diesel fuel. Of the 187 private buses, 82 have diesel engines, but transit officials say those should be phased out in the next several years.Diesel era ends for MTA buses
Metro will become the only major transit agency in... more
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The Gasser '33 Hot Rod produces 650 horsepower and doesn't use a drop of gasoline. Instead, it runs on clean-burning domestically-sourced compressed natural gas. Captured on tape at the 2010 Alternative Fuels and Vehicles conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
http://www.mpgomatic.com/2010/05/14/the-gasser-wild-cng-33-hot-rod/The Gasser '33 Hot Rod produces 650 horsepower and doesn't use a drop of... more
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Haynesville: A Nation’s Hunt for Energy takes place in the Louisiana backwoods, and follows the momentous discovery of the largest natural gas field in the United States (and maybe the world). The film examines the historic find (a formation called the “Haynesville Shale”) from the personal level as well as from the higher perspective of the current energy picture and pending energy future.
As the Haynesville boom erupts, the film focuses on three lives caught in the middle of the find: A single mom takes up the defense of her community’s environmental protections, an African American preacher attempts to use the riches to build a Christian school and a salt-of-the-earth, self-described “country boy” finds himself conflicted as he weighs losing his land to an oil company’s offer to make him a millionaire.
From a broader perspective, Haynesville explores the current energy situation and what something the scale of the Haynesville (170 trillion cubic feet or the equivalent of 28 billion barrels of oil) could mean to the United States’ energy picture. In a never-seen-before on-screen discussion, environmentalists, academics and oil and gas industry folks hash out the idea of trying to find cleaner energy sources and how this natural gas could possibly help provide an energy answer.
Website: http://www.haynesvillemovie.com/Haynesville: A Nation’s Hunt for Energy takes place in the Louisiana backwoods,... more
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How do you make a Toyota Camry Hybrid even more green? Rip out the conventional gasoline tank and replace it with ultra clean burning compressed natural gas (CNG). The Surfrider Foundation's CNG Camry Hybrid shows a clear path to the future, where we rely solely on domestically produced fuel. CA-based Metal Crafters did the CNG conversion work, while Street Image handled the cosmetics.How do you make a Toyota Camry Hybrid even more green? Rip out the conventional... more
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Can a hot rod 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck go green? This wicked ride takes a different road to coolness, with clean burning propane power under the hood, along with a number of eco-friendly tactics. Caught on tape at SEMA 2009 in Las Vegas.Can a hot rod 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck go green? This wicked ride takes a... more
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Converting rapidly from coal-generated energy to gas is President Barack Obama’s most obvious first step towards saving our planet and jump-starting our economy. A revolution in natural gas production over the past two years has left America awash with natural gas and has made it possible to eliminate most of our dependence on deadly, destructive coal practically overnight – and without the expense of building new power plants.
So writes Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of Waterkeeper Alliance, in the Financial Times..
To continue reading:
http://climateprogress.org/2009/07/21/game-changer-robert-f-kennedy-jr-end-americaâs-deadly-coal-power-addiction-unconventional-natural-gas/Converting rapidly from coal-generated energy to gas is President Barack Obama’s... more
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August 11, 2009
The NY Times — and U.S. Senate — have caught up to Climate Progress with this piece last week, “Is Shale Gas the Climate Bill’s New Bargaining Chip?“:
Natural gas from shale formations is the new magic phrase in the oil and gas industry, as new technologies have led to stunning increases in potential resources and anticipated profits.
Now some want to see if it carries any political magic.
With new discoveries of the fossil fuel in massive but difficult to drill shale deposits, advocates claim that climate legislation means a job boom for gas engineers and drillers, and revenue for producers. They say a cap on greenhouse gas emissions could lead power plants to switch to gas from coal, which emits about double the carbon dioxide of gas.
Some experts — but not all — say that a strong mandate to expand wind power and other alternative energy generation could be a boon for natural gas generators, which are a likely future source of backup power for renewables.
At the same time, some politicians on Capitol Hill are pushing for new natural gas incentives in climate legislation moving through Congress. They note that the fuel resource sits in many states, like Michigan and Pennsylvania, whose lawmakers are needed for passage of a bill.
Continue reading by clicking story title.August 11, 2009
The NY Times — and U.S. Senate — have caught up to... more
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Last year T. Boone Pickens brought the concept of natural gas as a vehicle fuel into the national stream of consciousness when he launched his “Pickens Plan”. Since then the concept has evolved to the point where there are several pieces of legislation making their way through Congress (Natural Gas Act of 2009)and the Senate which will encourage the more widespread implementation of this “green” fossil fuel. Recent estimates of the natural gas reserves in the United States indicate that we have a 100 year supply which is equal to all of the oil in Saudi Arabia. Pickens and his supporters are calling natural gas a bridge fuel to a greener tomorrow but some critics seem unsure of how this could work.
In this story I will attempt to answer those doubts by building that bridge in realistic terms from readily available information. In simplest terms Pickens CNG “bridge” can extend the time we have to transition to another vehicle fuel no matter what type. In a previous story (Why The Future of Transportation Fuel Is Hydrogen)I pointed out that hydrogen fuel is the logical choice as our eventual primary fuel because, when produced from water using solar or wind energy, it is 100% non polluting and 100% renewable. In addition, in the near term, it is the one fuel which can be produced from anything domestically available that we are currently using as a fuel including fossil sources and renewables. From my perspective Pickens has created the best, most viable option for a transition to 100% clean hydrogen fuel.
Hydrogen energy has, to this point, faced a lot of obstacles because it requires a specialized storage and distribution infrastructure and, even though it can be used with our familiar, internal combustion engine powered vehicles (with the proper storage and fuel system), the cost of the infrastructure necessary combined with the fact that it is much better to use hydrogen with fuel cell vehicles in order to take advantage of its full potential and the cost of producing hydrogen have all served to keep hydrogen energy stalled at the verge of being implemented. In financial terms it is something of a chicken or egg scenario; do we build the infrastructure with no cars available or build the cars with no infrastructure or invest hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into building both simultaneously?
Pickens idea of using natural gas as the vehicle to transport us into an independent, green energy transportation future provides the only viable option from the perspectives of both economic viability and seamlessness of transition. In fact India has been quietly pursuing this same concept for at least the past 5 years or more and doing it from an angle that is not even mentioned as an option in the US.
It started when the Indian government mandated that all public vehicles in Delhi be converted to run on CNG fuel in order to cut pollution in the city. CNG fuel produces 25% less CO2 pollution than gasoline vehicles and 90% fewer other pollutants. From there the concept evolved into one where the vehicles are running on a mix of CNG and hydrogen fuel. This mixture further reduces CO2 pollution by a percentage roughly equal to the percentage of hydrogen mixed into the CNG stream. In a press release from this past January it was revealed that all of the Indian car manufacturers are now working together to develop cars for retail sale which will be optimized to run on this fuel mix.
Clink link above to read entire story...Last year T. Boone Pickens brought the concept of natural gas as a vehicle fuel into... more
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Tell us why this is interestingSelf-made billionaire and self-proclaimed energy guru T. Boone Pickens has been all over the media and the Web this summer, with his energy evangelism gaining added traction as we count down the last 50 days to the election. Pickens wants to reduce our dependence on foreign energy as rapidly as possible, and he's willing to put his money where his mouth is.
As part of his viral video-powered campaign, then, Pickens wants to put $160 million behind his case for natural gas-powered vehicles. Central to that plan is the development of the so-called Standard Taxi (pictured above), which looks sort of like a London taxi made from Lego blocks. I can only speculate as to why it's so unconscionably ugly.
That being said, I happen to agree 100-percent with Pickens' assertion that converting a healthy proportion of the U.S. fleet to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) would provide tremendous medium-range solutions to our energy issues—no question about it. We have plenty of NG reserves, especially right offshore and in the Arctic. The infrastructure to carry it around the country is mature. There are many advantages to running a car or truck on CNG, especially for fleets that always return to a central location for refueling during the day or overnight. It's a clean-burning fuel, and a dedicated CNG vehicle can have almost the same range as a gas or diesel-powered one. Tell us why this is interestingSelf-made billionaire and self-proclaimed energy guru... more
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