Getting in gear with natural gas.

• Author: Woodring, Jeannie
• Position: Use of natural gas-powered vehicles - 1994 Environmental Services - Directory

Whenever Anchorage-based WestCoast International Inn's airport shuttle vans run out of fuel, the drivers haul the rigs over to a Spenard shop and fill 'em up ... with compressed natural gas (CNG).

"We're the only hotel in the state that uses natural gas vehicles," says John Harrington, the hotel's maintenance engineer. "I would like to see all the major hotels here in town that run shuttle buses to the airport run on natural gas."

Why?

In 10 years of using natural gas vehicles (NGVs), Harrington notes the hotel's vehicle fuel costs have dropped about 40 percent. Vehicle maintenance costs are lower. Hotel guests waiting at the airport "no longer have to inhale our vans' carbon monoxide because harmful emissions from NGVs are almost non-existent."

In 40 countries and six continents worldwide, drivers of another 700,000 NGVs notice the same results.

True, NGV numbers pale by comparison with the thousands of other gasoline-powered vehicles roaring down Alaska's roads and the 500 million gas-powered cars running worldwide. But don't be fooled by the numbers game. These economically- and environmentally-correct vehicles have the potential to rule this country's roads, including Alaska's.

Here are the facts:

* Natural gas use is gaining government support. Buoyed by the Clinton administration's efforts to make natural gas the fuel of choice for the United States, the federal government has stepped up its efforts to purchase alternative-fuel vehicles (which will include NGVs). In 1994, Uncle Sam will buy 12,000 of these rigs, moving up to purchasing 50,000 a year by 1997.

* Because of technological improvements, more Americans are using NGVs. Big U.S. auto manufacturers, including GM, Chrysler and Ford, now manufacture NGVs. Following guidelines of the Clean Air Act of 1990, vehicle fleet operators in 22 American cities with serious or severe air quality problems (Anchorage's and Fairbanks' winter air quality problems are considered moderate) must include alternative-fuel vehicles as part of their fleet acquisitions each year. By 2010, a scant 16 years from now, this regulation is expected to place one million new alternative-fuel vehicles on the road.

* In the long haul, NGVs are less expensive to operate. The initial startup costs of converting an auto to run on CNG or to buy a new NGV are offset by other factors: An equivalent gallon of natural gas costs 40 percent less than a gallon of gas; clean-burning natural gas lowers vehicle maintenance costs (oil change intervals for NGVs, for example, extend up to 100 percent to 200 percent beyond gasoline-fired autos); tax incentives like the Energy Policy Act of 1992 can provide deductions up to $2,500 for purchasing a NGV.

* NGVs are better for the environment. Vehicles running on CNG can reduce reactive hydrocarbons (smog's major ingredient) by 85 percent and carbon monoxide by 90 percent. Since vehicles cause most of this country's pollution problems, using NGVs can contribute to cleaner air all over America, including cities like Anchorage in the winter.

* Natural gas is an abundant energy source. According to some estimations, North America's known natural gas reserves could supply the continent with energy for 200 years. With such a resource, the United States can divert future energy crises by decreasing national dependence on foreign oil. The potential for a national energy crisis is not over. In 1993, the United States imported a record amount of foreign oil, an average of almost 8.5 million barrels a day.

* NGVs are...