COMPRESSED NATURAL GAS (CNG) CNG has three primary advantages to gasoline or diesel fuel. Natural gas is a clean-burning fossil fuel that emits less than 10 percent of the particulate matter emitted by gasoline and diesel fuels. NGV’s also produce 20-30 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than comparable diesel- and gasoline-powered engines. Thesecondbenefitispolitical.GreaterCNGuseshiftsthedemand from Middle Eastern oil to the United States’ 120 year supply of natural gas. Four of JEA’s NGV’s will offset 300 barrels of oil a year. The Third advantage is the price of fuel. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, natural gas costs a third less than gasoline at the pump on average and 42 percent less than diesel fuel on an energy equivalent basis. Natural gas is also a stable commodity that will remain a cost-effective solution for many years.

JACKSON ENERGY AUTHORITY’S NGV FLEET JacksonenergyAuthority’scommitmenttoenergy-efficientnatural gas vehicles (NGV’s) continues to expand. It has addedthreetruckstoitsfleetandisofferingfuelingservicesto other organizations. JEA’sfirstNGVwasahalf-tonpickuptruckpurchasedin spring 2012 that is being used as a courier truck. To help promote natural gas as a vehicle fuel, the truck was wrapped with highly visible graphics and selling points. Since then, the company has purchased four three-quarter ton extended cabs: two for customer service calls in Field Services, one for the Wastewater Treatment Plant and one for gas locate calls. Each vehicle is a bi-fuel NGV running on either compressed natural gas (CNG) or gasoline. These vehicles run on CNG as a primary fuel and then switch to gasoline once the CNG has been depleted. This also can extend the vehicle’s range or keepitrunninguntilyoucanrefillwithCNG. “We’ve had great success with the vehicles we have,” said

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Natural gas is the cleanest burning alternative transportation fuel currently available. It can economically power light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles as well as rail and marine vehicles. In either form (CNG or LNG) it has become a proven alternative fuel that can have an immediate positive impact on our environment and help reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

NATURAL GAS POWERED VEHICLES jackson energy authority (NGVs)

Gas System Engineer Eric Johnson. “Natural gas is cleaner. It’s more abundant. It’s American and it’s cost-effective.” It costs about $9500 more per truck to equip them to run on CNG, he explained. If a truck logs 15,000 to 20,000 miles peryear,thecostispaidbackinfourorfiveyears. Becauseofthebenefits,JEAisconsideringthepurchaseof 20 more NGV’s over the long term. The company also built a new CNG fueling station in march 2013. The station was not designed for public access but JEA has made it available to other organizations that need help. JEA’sfirstpublicCNGsalescustomerwastheCityofParsons, which purchased a dedicated CNG-powered refuse truck from TAG Truck Center in Jackson, TN. The truck had a mechanical issue and needed to come to Jackson for repairs. Fearing that the truck didn’t have enough CNG fuel to make it back to Parsons, TN, TAG Truck Center asked JEA for help. JEA also is partnering with the City of Jackson, which addedNGV’stotheirfleet.“Wewantedtoforwardthistechnology out in the community and we couldn’t think of a better partner than the City of Jackson,” Eric said. One of the City’s new NGV’s will be driven by the supervisor of Health and Sanitation, said Rodney Todd, the City’s Director of Garage Operations. The other is a light-duty dump truck that will pick up limbs and yard waste from curbs. The city will use JEA’s CNG station to refuel when the trucks are delivered this spring. “We couldn’t do it without JEA’s help,” Rodney said.

This Alternative Fuel model is a partnership between the city of Jackson and Jackson Energy Authority, and also includes Waste Management of Jackson with the addition of CNG-fueledtruckstothefleetforgarbagecollection.Lookingtothe future, Jim Ferrell, President and CEO of Jackson Energy Authority states, “Expanding domestic crude oil and natural gas resources continue to stabilize the forward pricing for alternative fuel commodities. This should only improve and accelerate the greater use of alternative fuels such as CNG and propane as a vehicle fuel source.”

LOOKING AHEAD The long-term stability and low prices for natural gas relative to oil are likely to remain for many years – perhaps even decades – based on well-documented economic models.Thelong-termnatureoffleetassetmanagementsuggests that it is prudent to continue to invest in transitioning more vehicles to natural gas. Fleets that have already made the investment in vehicles and infrastructure will continue tobenefitfromthestabilityofnaturalgaspricesandtheircontinuing economic advantage. Additionally, with proven reserves of domestic natural gas soaring and our dependence on foreign oil as burdensome as ever, it only makes sense to start using our clean, inexpensive and abundant natural gas as a vehicle fuel. Natural gas vehicles (NGV) are good for our economy, our environment, and your bottom line.

Source: Natural Gas Vehicles for America

(NGVs)