A Call For Innovation At The Local Level

Mark Mathis, director/producer of the documentary spOILed, has written an opinion piece in the Albuquerque Journal in which he calls for state governments to create a market-driven infrastructure for natural gas transportation. He says the federal government is hopelessly dysfunctional.

As a specific example of what is needed, he cited Aztec Well Service in New Mexico, which wants to convert its entire fleet and drilling rigs to natural gas. To do that, the Gas Company Of New Mexico will need to build a 3½ mile pipeline at a cost of $620,000 to $850,000. Mr. Mathis said the pipeline should be financed by the gas company's customers through its rates. He said the resulting boost to the state's economy will pay the money back one hundredfold.

Here's a link to the trailer for Mr. Mathis' documentary, spOILed.

Electric Drive Community Readiness Workshop

Clean Cities Coachella Valley Region has organized to a community plug-in electric vehicle readiness and charging infrastructure workshop for February 21 in Palm Springs, California at 3111 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, the IHUB/CVEP building. The agenda includes

• Zoning and parking
• Building code updates
• Streamline approach & inspection
• Training and education tactics
• Available funding and incentives
• Utility support

RSVP required to Georgia Sevright, 909-754-8663 or georgias@cv3r.org

This information comes via the "Slide Into Electric With Clean Cities Coachella Valley Region" blog.

American Clean Skies Foundation Survey Results

A report on the results of the survey in November 2012 of natural gas vehicle professionals showed that the price spread between diesel and CNG/LNG is the most important factor in fleet adoption of natural gas vehicles. The survey respondents were also very confident that the heavy-duty market segment will grow, but less confident about growth in the light-duty market. More than half regard the cost of fueling equipment as a significant impediment to building new fueling stations. About half feel that tax credits are the most effective incentive to increase natural gas vehicle infrastructure development.

What Are Those Lights In North Dakota?

It's a new oil and gas field created by fracking. It produces 660,000 barrels of oil per day. 29% of the gas that is brought up is flared off because it's not as profitable as oil, and there is insufficient infrastructure to pipe it away.

Fracking holds the promise of cheaper, cleaner fuel

An op-ed in The Buffalo News by Craig Jackson, business development manager at Cobey Inc. in Buffalo, New York. He says "There are many reasons why embracing this new technology is good for our natural environment and our economy." He explains that CNG is cleaner than gasoline. It's less expensive and abundant.

Technology has made extracting natural gas from previously inaccessible shale possible. In 2000, only 2 percent of our natural gas came from shale. By 2012, that amount grew to 37 percent. Abundance leads to innovation, too. The U.S. Department of Energy announced in July that it will award $30 million to 13 cutting-edge research projects through its Advanced Research Projects Agency. This initiative will encourage development of natural gas tanks and compressors for readier use.

In the same issue of the newspaper Joel Huberman says that electric vehicles powered by wind, sun, and water are even cleaner and will be available for millions of years. Joel Huberman is a retired scientist and a member of the Energy Committee of the Niagara Group of the Sierra Club.

CNG School Buses For Two School Districts

The Desert Sun editorial board expressed support for the use of Sentinel mitigation funds to purchase CNG school buses for the Coachella Valley and Desert Sands Unified School Districts. The editorial also provides an overview of other CNG vehicle projects in the valley.

On January 4, 2013, the use of the mitigation funds to purchase the CNG school buses was finally approved by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

GreenFuel

GreenFuel is an Apple app that helps you locate alternative fuel stations in the United States. $1.99 from the Apple App Store. There is also the GreenFuel Lite version which is free and searches only for CNG stations within a 5 or 15 mile radius.

The Department of Energy provides this web page which is not an app and lacks GPS functionality, so you need to tell it where you are.

There is also the Alternative Fuel Finder, another Apple app.

Another one is Cleaner and Greener Fuel Station Finder which is free and also available as an Android app.

Third Stone Software offers the Alternative Fuel Locator app for Apple devices.

Also available for Android are Green-Driver: Alternative Fuel for $1.99 and KeenDriver, which is free.