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Alternative fuels might be getting a boost as a major fuel retailer will help make propane more available.
This story from Greentech Media has details:
Today, for instance, ConocoPhillips said it will help with CleanFuel USA to install propane dispensers over the next three years at 76 stations. Conoco will supply the propane and CleanFuel will put in the pumps. How many will get installed? Who knows, but it does signify some effort on Conoco’s part.
Propane has lower greenhouse gas emissions, wheel-to-well, than gas or diesel and it’s comparatively cheap — it costs about $2.30 a gallon and you get federal tax credits on top of that. There’s a lot of it too. It’s not as clean as cellulosic ethanol, but it is available now.
To date, propane cars are largely only owned by fleets. Thus, some, if not most, of these pumps will be found at places where buses and truck congregate. Still, it could expand and both Ford and General Motors have signaled they will expand their propane programs.
There’s an estimated 10 million propane-fueled vehicles worldwide, but look for that number to rise if the fuel is available. CleanFuel officials say 1.5 billion gallons a year of propane could be put into the market immediately without hurting supplies.
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November 12th, 2008 at 8:14 am
If propane is available and meets emissions standards (oxides of nitrogen, unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide), we might as well use it.
The problem is for ordinary people like me, availability. I wouldn’t want to have a propane-fueled car if I were on the road and propane refueling stations were few and far between.
But fleet users like school districts might want to consider spark-ignited propane engines as an alternative to Diesel, because even though Diesel engines are more efficient, they tend to have problems meeting oxides of nitrogen and particulate emission standards.
The Chicato Transit Authority at one time had a fleet of propane-fueled transit buses, then converted over to Diesel-powered buses. But remember, that was before draconian oxides of nitrogen and particulate emission standards.