Comparing Diesel, CNG and LNG

An article in The Province discusses some of the differences between natural gas, gasoline and diesel for powering trucks.

• Using natural gas can save $200,000 to $240,000 (Canadian dollars) over diesel.
• Four times as much compressed natural gas (CNG) is required to get the energy of one gallon of diesel.
• Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is more compact. 1.8 cubic feet of LNG equals 1 cubic foot of diesel.
• Combusting natural gas requires a spark-ignited natural-gas engine (CNG or LNG) or high-pressure direct injection (LNG only). The latter uses a small amount of diesel to ignite the gas.
• Some companies retrofit trucks to burn a mix of CNG and diesel.
• There are about 1,300 CNG stations in North America, but only 80 LNG stations.
• Since 2010 natural gas and diesel engines have fairly similar environmental profiles.