Friday, February 17, 2012
G-Biz™: Soon the Term “Fill ‘er Up” Just Might Mean Natural Gas
The Clean Vehicle Education Foundation sponsored a one-day conference in Charleston Thursday focused on the benefits of natural gas as the fuel of choice.
Steve Yborra is with the foundation and said they focused on businesses in West Virginia that need a lot of fuel for their company vehicles.
“Fleets tend to be, we’ll call it the precursor to a wider adoption of technology,” Yborra said.
Currently the nearest public natural gas fueling station is outside West Virginia. But fleets like NiSource, the state of West Virginia and several cities, have invested in natural gas fueling technology.
Yborra said they are reaping the benefits.
“Natural gas is so inexpensive and we have so much of it here, abundant in this state as well as all over the United States, that we can produce [natural] gas for about 50% less than the gas equivalent,” Yborra said.
For example, the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in the U.S. is at $3.52.
The equivalent in natural gas adds up to about $1.75.
Yborra says not only is natural gas cheaper and cleaner, it is better for our economy.
“98% of all the [natural gas] fuel we use in the United States comes from the United States and a little bit from Canada,” he said.
That means no foreign oil from the Middle East or other hostile countries.
At this point, the average West Virginian has no way to fill up a personal car with natural gas. But Yborra says the more fleets that make the switch; the more individuals will want to drive a natural gas powered vehicle of their own.
“Eventually there’s enough of it that consumers have the confidence that they’ll buy a vehicle and do the same,” he said.
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The message should be much more important than the messenger but still people just don’t read or take the responsibility of independent thinking. It seems more important to know who said it, to be on the “right” side. I don’t like bullies. I don’t care for people telling others what they should and should not say or how to say it. That’s my right, my opinion. Don’t have any problem signing my name to this but for now I’ll just use…
To Not Me,