Natural Gas & Cleaner Automobiles

A recent advance is seen in several new filling stations with pumps to dispense natural gas. By 2010, two million vehicles could be running on compressed natural gas, which would still only be a fraction of the 196 million registered vehicles now on the road. Converting vehicles to run on natural gas costs about $4,000 and is a relatively simple procedure. Interest in doing so is being fueled by the 1990 Clean Air Act which requires cities with high pollution rates to cut emissions. Natural gas burns more completely and cleanly than gasoline and so serves this purpose. Another reason for the change is the 1992 Energy Policy Act requiring government-owned fleets of cars to contain vehicles powered by alternative fuels, with the goal of lowering dependence on foreign oil. Some 93 percent of the natural gas used in the United States is produced domestically, compared with about 50 percent of oil products (Curley, 1995).

Natural gas is a flammable gas within the earth's crust and

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een offering an incentive of $1,700 per converted vehicle, and Southern California Gas itself has 60 vehicles operating and another 140 on order (Woodyard, 1994). Natural gas vehicles cost $3,000 to $5,000 more than similar gasoline-powered cars and trucks. While natural gas is cheaper than gasoline, it has only half the driving range of gasoline. Many of today's internal combustion engines can be made to run on natural gas, so this fuel is seen as a more practical approach to cleaning the air than electric vehicles (Nauss, 1996). GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES The geopolitical issues break down into two large areas. On the one hand, the U.S. seeks to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, and on the other, the U.S. hopes to be able to sell natural gas and electric technology to other markets. The issue of dependence on oil has been vital at least since the oil embargo in the 1970s and was evident most recently in the Gulf War. It was clear by September 1990 that the energy policy of the United States was involved in the battle raging on Capitol Hill and with Congress over the issue of the Gulf. Iraq had invaded Kuwait, and this was the immediate cause of the sanctions and the war that would follow. America had been addicted to fore
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Approximate Word count = 2375
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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