Cars powered with CNG, or Compressed Natural Gas, offer a number of benefits in comparison to gasoline and diesel vehicles. CNG powered automobiles don’t generate as much pollution, use less expensive energy, and consume fuel from domestic sources. Some cars which run on compressed natural gas also have greater fuel efficiency.

CNG is very beneficial for the environment in comparison to other fuels; according to fueleconomy.gov, it is among the cleanest fuels for automobiles, produces sixty to ninety percent less “smog-producing pollutants”, and generates thirty to forty percent fewer “greenhouse gas emissions.” It also indicates that eighty-seven percent of compressed natural gas used domestically comes from the United States; in addition to increasing national self-reliance, this reduces pollution generated by transporting fuel longer distances.

It is also less expensive to purchase compressed natural gas, according to the Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuel Report (March 2007); it lists CNG as having a lower national average price than gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, ethanol, and propane. The same report states that “CNG is about 36 cents less than gasoline on an energy-equivalent basis.” NREL.gov’s Alternative Fuel Station Locator shows that most states have at least a couple CNG stations, but they are most concentrated on the east and west coasts. According to wikipedia.org, the natural gas powered version of the Honda Civic sedan has better mileage than gasoline cars of the same model, although trunk space is reduced because of the larger gas tank.

In general, despite reduced fuel tank capacity and lesser availability of different models, CNG powered cars have many significant benefits both economically and environmentally.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 8:05 am and is filed under Natural Gas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.