What is a Better Fuel for Automobiles, Gasoline or Natural Gas

Executive Summary

Ever since automobile emissions have been known to be a problem, manufacturers have been trying to reduce them using pollution controlling devices. One way to reduce emissions is by using a cleaner burning alterative fuel. Natural gas is an affordable alternative fuel that can easily replace gasoline. Natural gas does have disadvantages so, which is better, gasoline or natural gas?

Natural gas is 30-50 cents per gallon cheaper than gasoline. Also, natural gas vehicles are just as efficient and sometimes more efficient than gasoline powered vehicles. The only costs involve with natural gas vehicles is the cost of conversion and the cost of purchasing a new vehicle. It costs about four thousand dollars to convert an average automobile and a new natural gas vehicle is about five thousand dollars more than a gasoline powered vehicle. As for the environment natural gas vehicles emit much less emissions than gasoline powered vehicles. They emit 65% less Carbon Monoxide, 30% less Carbon Dioxide, 43% less Nitrogen Oxides, and 23% Less Unburned Hydrocarbons. Also, When spilled gasoline easily makes its way into ground water but natural gas is expelled into the air. The only true advantage of using gasoline is the convenience of refilling your automobile. Natural gas refilling stations are not very abundant but gas stations are everywhere. Gasoline also has a negative affect on the economy. Most of the oil used to produce gasoline is bought from other countries. This alone increases the national trade deficit, which is bad for our economy.

Natural gas is better than gasoline because it is an affordable way to produce fewer emissions. The best way to get people to use natural gas is to educate them about the benefits so they can make a choice as to what is better for them.

Introduction

Automobile emissions have been known to be a problem for over twenty years. Since then manufacturers have been trying to reduce the exhaust emissions that automobiles produce. They have succeeded in many ways by using exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), catalytic converters, and electronic fuel injection. Another way to reduce emissions is by using natural gas. Propane as it is sometimes called, greatly reduces exhaust emissions and can be easily used in today’s automobile engines. Even though natural gas works at reducing emissions we still use gasoline in our cars today. There must be problems with the use of natural gas or everyone would be using it. If natural gas is cleaner and can be used in internal combustion engines then which type of fuel is a better choice, gasoline or natural gas?

To answer this question, information was gathered by means of a few types of research. Research included books written on the subject, articles on the Internet, and an interview of Robert Johnson an automobile mechanic. Robert has over ten years experience with electronic fuel injection systems and has done maintenance on many natural gas vehicles. The questions in the interview concerned the benefits and problems associated with the use of natural gas and how they compare to the usage of gasoline.

The original purpose of using natural gas as an alternative fuel was to reduce emissions. While experimenting with this fuel other advantages were also found. These advantages give reason to believe that this type of fuel may be better than gasoline. Some of the advantages include, price is lower, allows engine to run more efficient, and exposes engine to less wear. This report will examine all differences in using both gasoline and natural gas to determine which fuel is better.

Cost Comparison

Cost is a big issue when deciding on such a large change. People resist spending money on something they are unsure about even if they might save money in the long run. To many people, gasoline is a necessity no matter what the cost even if the cost is the environment. This section will show a comparison between the costs of gasoline use and the change to natural gas use.

Natural gas is about 30 to 50 cents per gallon cheaper than gasoline (5). Natural gas vehicles are just as efficient or more efficient than gasoline vehicles so fuel consumption would be similar to gasoline powered vehicles (3). This alone could save consumers hundreds of dollars every year.

The price of a new car that runs on natural gas is about five thousand dollars more than a car that runs on gasoline. It costs about four thousand dollars to convert a car to run on natural gas (5). This would probably steer consumers away from buying natural gas vehicles. For now the government is offering incentives for the purchase of natural gas vehicles. From the federal government a two thousand dollar tax deduction is available for the purchase of one of these vehicles or for conversion of a vehicle to natural gas. There are also incentives from state and local governments depending on where you live (4). With savings related to the price of natural gas and the incentive programs one can save enough money to pay for the price difference for a new vehicle.

Another cost comparison is the environment. Each year the government spends millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money to try and find ways to reduce air pollution. This includes research on natural gas vehicles. If people used natural gas vehicles then in the long run the taxpayer will save money that would otherwise be spent on pollution controlling research.

This section shows how the environment can be helped with little money from the public. In the future, if they become popular, natural gas vehicles will become more affordable to obtain. As this happens many people will be able to benefit from owning a natural gas vehicle. Not just the vehicle owners but also everyone that will breathe the cleaner air.

Convenience

Right now convenience is the biggest reason why natural gas vehicles are not being mass-produced. People like being able to purchase gasoline anywhere and don’t want the hassle of finding a place to refill a natural gas powered car.

A downfall related to natural gas use is the inconvenience of not having many places to refill your car. Gas stations are plentiful. It is rare to be in a predicament were you cannot find a gas station when you need to refill. There are a small number of places to get natural gas tanks refilled but they are not at every other corner like gas stations. It is very convenient to just pull into the next gas station to fill up with fuel. With natural gas you will have to be careful not to run out of fuel before you can reach the next refilling station. Refilling stations are popping up all over the United States and if natural gas vehicles become popular it will be easy to find a place to fill up.

On the other hand natural gas vehicles can be convenient to own because natural gas vehicles can be refilled at home. Since many people use natural gas to heat their homes and to cook their food there will be access to a tank at home that can be used to refuel their automobile. If safety is a concern, there are certain measures that people can take to ensure a safe refill.

Another convenience of using natural gas is the ability to convert any internal combustion engine over to using natural gas as its fuel source. With most cars having electronic fuel injection converting to natural gas can be done very easily (3). There are many companies that do the conversions and can do it to any vehicle. You can also convert your car to a bi-fuel arrangement so it will run on both gasoline and natural gas. By doing this you can share the conveniences of both fuels.

Most of the disadvantages of using natural gas have to do with the infrastructure. If natural gas vehicles become popular then the infrastructure will become more complete. This says that there will be more filling stations and it will be just as convenient to fill your natural gas vehicle, as it is to fill the car you drive today.

Economics

One way that gasoline consumption affects our economy is the purchase of foreign oil. Our country depends on foreign oil purchases to fulfill our demand for gasoline. With more use of gasoline we increase the trade deficit, which hurts the countries economy. We also have to defend the countries, which sell us oil because we don’t want to lose them as a supplier. The fighting in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia involved oil trade and cost our counties millions of dollars (2).

Natural gas use can also hurt our economy. Oil and gasoline companies employ many people in the United States. If natural gas is used instead of gasoline many people will lose their jobs. As long as gasoline is being sold these people will keep their jobs keeping the unemployment ratings low.

Natural gas affects the country in other ways as well. Gasoline can be easily produced with different octane ratings. This is important because certain internal combustion engines are designed to run on gasoline with certain octane ratings (3). This gives the consumer a choice depending on which octane is best for their vehicle. For an engine to perform its best using natural gas it would have to be designed to run at the high octane that natural gas has. Selling gasoline at different octane ratings helps the market by giving consumers a choice.

There are trade offs between natural gas use and the use of gasoline. They both affect the economy in different ways. Gasoline’s influence is much greater, costing the country more money. Natural gas seems to be the best choice by saving the country money in the long run.

Environmental Issues

The environmental issues are the entire reason for examining the use of alternative fuels. With more cars on the road today than in the past air pollution is becoming a major problem.

The air, especially in large cities is not very clean. Smog is a very big problem that is caused by air pollution. With vehicles producing half of the air pollution today it is noticeable that this is a very large disadvantage of using gasoline.

Natural gas burns much cleaner than gasoline. An internal combustion engine running on natural gas on average emits 30% less Carbon Dioxide, 65% less Carbon Monoxide, 43% less Nitrogen Oxides, and 23% less Unburned Hydrocarbons than the same engine running on gasoline (See Figure 1). These are significant reductions in emissions and will contribute to cleaner air and less global warming (5).

Each year automobiles dump tons of emissions into our atmosphere. The most critical emissions are Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Unburned Hydrocarbons, and Nitrogen Oxides.

Carbon Dioxide will always be an emission because it is a product of the chemical reaction of a hydrocarbon combusting. Gasoline and natural gas both contain hydrocarbons. The combustion of natural gas results in 30% less carbon dioxide than the combustion of gasoline. Carbon Dioxide is believed to be the cause of global warming.

Carbon Monoxide interferes with oxygen getting into the blood. This causes reduced aerobic capacity, headaches, nausea, and in extreme cases death. Just by using natural gas an internal combustion engine emits 65% less Carbon Monoxide.

Unburned Hydrocarbons come from fuel and air that escape from the combustion process. In other words the fuel is emitted out of the exhaust pipe unburned. This emission is an irritant and is carcinogenic.

Nitrogen Oxides come form the combination of nitrogen and oxygen in the air under extreme pressure and temperature. Nitrogen Oxides can cause damage to the lungs and in extreme cases can also cause death. Also, Nitrogen Oxides and Unburned Hydrocarbons combine with sunlight to cause ground level ozone usually referred to as smog. Smog is an increasing problem in large cities. Using natural gas reduces Unburned Hydrocarbons by 23% and Nitrogen Oxides by 43%.

Another environmental consideration is the amount of oil and gasoline that is spilled each year. Just look at the Exxon® oil spill a couple of years ago. Each year people spill thousand of gallons of gasoline. Gasoline is a liquid at room temperature and easily makes its way into our drinking water. Natural gas is a gas at room temperature so in the case of a natural gas leak it is expelled into the air and not onto the ground where it can contaminate the water.

The most important weakness of using gasoline is the fact that it produces more emissions than natural gas. With the government setting high emission standards it is important to have a clean burning engine. With the use of emission controlling devices today’s vehicles are easily meeting the standards but older automobiles may have trouble passing emission testing while running on gasoline. The air that we breathe today is not very clean. With so many vehicles on the roads everyday, people are subject to a large amount of emission filled air.

Another environmental concern is the lack of being able to replenish the oil supply. Oil is a fossil fuel and takes thousands of years to form. One day there will not be any oil to produce gasoline with so we will have to turn to other fuels. Though natural gas is also a fossil fuel it is more plentiful than gasoline at the present time. Also natural gas vehicles are usually more efficient and use less fuel.

Since natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel it imparts less wear on the engine it is being used in (3). This reduction in wear leads to extended engine life and less engine maintenance. This means that people will need to change their oil less often, which makes disposal of the used motor oil easier. Also engines that would normally run one hundred thousand miles without a tune up may be able to run much longer before needing this done. With less used oil and less junk automobile engines the environment can only benefit.

These environmental issues are very important and need to be considered. Using natural gas definitely benefits the environment, which is the basic reason for an alterative fuel.

Conclusions

Gasoline has been used as a fuel source for automobiles for over twenty years.

People are going to be reluctant to quit using gasoline in their vehicles. They will have to be convinced that the use of an alternative fuel is better for them. Many people don’t know that they have a choice. Natural gas shows to be very beneficial not only to the environment but also to the consumers. If people are educated about different alternative fuels then they will be able to make a decision that they believe is right for them.

Gasoline is not the best fuel for automobiles. It is costing us more money each year. The price keeps going up and the supply is declining. Gasoline is bad for the environment. Too much is spilled and the emissions caused by its use is degrading. Gasoline may be convenient to obtain but this does not justify its use.

Natural gas proves to be a good alternative to gasoline. It is much better for the environment buy emitting fewer emissions and cannot be spilled. It is affordable to use as compared to other alternative fuels and will be comparable to the costs of using gasoline in the near future. When it becomes popular it will be very easy to obtain because much of it can be found in the United States. Natural gas is definitely the better choice and should be used by everyone

Recommendations

Gasoline obviously has some benefits but sacrifice should be made to create a cleaner environment. The benefits of using gasoline do not involve the environment. The environment is the reason for examining alternative fuel usage. It should be our concern to clean up the environment by using a cleaner burning fuel.

If more people were interested in the use of natural gas and if there were a demand for natural gas vehicles then the manufacturers would sell these cars at a cost comparable to that of a gasoline powered automobile. People need to be educated about the choices that they have. If people knew about the benefits of using natural gas in their car then they might be willing to give it a try.

Automobile manufactures should advertise their natural gas vehicles. They need to let people know that the vehicles are out there and some people drive them every day. The natural gas companies should also advertise the use of their fuel in automobiles. This would let people know that there are places to obtain natural gas and using natural gas use is an accepted practice.

Natural Gas must be considered as an alterative fuel source because of its low emissions

and its affordability. This report examines the differences between natural gas use and

the use of gasoline in today’s automobiles. It also proves which fuel source is better.