Professor Elam

Coal and UNG Back to the Future Fuels

The latest news is that sales of the Toyota Prius Hybrid using both gasoline and electric motors, are picking up again. This happens when gasoline prices increase. But in the interest of truth in advertising we demand that the Government refer to these as Coal or NG fired Cars, because that is what they are.

This administration hates carbon fuels. They are secretly applauding $4 gasoline, as the President (who formerly drove a Chrysler 300)  said, trade in your SUV. And so drilling permits in the Gulf have ceased flowing, along with the oil. Wind energy, even heavily subsidized, is simply not cost effective, even at $109 oil. The truth is that an electric car like the  Nissan Leaf or the Cushman at the Andrews Golf Course, obtains energy from stationary power plants. And those plants run on coal or the next breakthrough clean energy alternative, natural gas.

All of a sudden everyone is drilling for ‘shale gas.’  South Texas, North Dakota, you name it, the plains are alive with the sound of directional drilling rigs finding variations of natural gas. This is leading us to some surprising breakthroughs.

West Texans have long used propane conversions in their pickups and such, running propane in the flat country and gasoline where more power is required. One of my first learning experiences about LNG occurred in Andrews in 1975. Master Mechanic Oop Shrauner explained the intricacies of how an Imperial 300 conversion on a gasoline carburetor allowed the use of both fuels. Propane has been cheaper, widely available, and burns clean leaving a nice gray rather than black residue in the tail pipe.

Now, Peterbilt is using a Westport WPRT engine to provide liquid natural gas power substituting for traditional diesel power. Here is the story from a  Peterbilt press release.

Powered by the Westport GX engine, Peterbilt’s Models 386 LNG and 367 LNG offer up to 475 horsepower and 1,750 ft-lbs of torque. The 15-litre Westport GX engine uses high pressure direct injection, proprietary fuel injectors, (HPDI) fuel system, specialized cryogenic fuel tanks, and associated electronic components to facilitate robust performance and reliable operation. This technology uses a low cost, cleaner-burning fuel than diesel with no compromises on engine torque, power, fuel economy, or driveability, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25%.

Diesel has become more expensive than gasoline, thanks to more new government regulations (go figure).

It seems reasonable to expect that the increased availability of versions of natural gas will lead to more applications for this cleaner fuel.

Hekmann HEK has ordered multiple versions of this new engine for their trucks. HEK provides water solution for, you guessed it, drilling in oil and natural gas fields. The plan is to make the natural gas available at fueling stops where the gas is produced. Well, sounds right to me.

I would point out to Paul Ryan and Barack Obama, now seeking to cut spending at the Federal Government level, that this ‘breakthrough’ was not achieved by their Department of Energy but at Westport. Like Henry Ford in his backyard shop or Steve Wozniak in the now famous Santa Clara garage creating his Apple Computer, innovation remains an individual construct. Oddly neither Paul nor Barack has suggested axing the oxymoron, Department of Energy.

In the meantime, it’s back to the future of 1975 as business adapts to the available supply of energy which is the cheapest and most efficient. Amazing how capitalism allocates resources, eh?

Dennis Elam blogs at http://www.themarketperspective.com.