steamin10 wrote:Yep. The smartest guys in the room are anticipating the opening of huge reserves of Natural Gas,
I remember that in the seventies and maybe early eighties there was a rush here for CNG (compressed natural gas) for automotive use.
We do have a good supply of NG here, but the problem was that it took quite massive compressors to put it into cylinders which had to be very heavy in order to withstand the high pressures involved.
The government subsidised the installation of these compressors and many people converted their cars and light trucks to CNG. Many also converted to LPG (propane) which was more user friendly with lighter tanks because of the lower pressures involved.
It all boomed for a few years, then the whole CNG thing ground to a halt as people were complaining of a lack of power and short range and they also didn't like the extra weight in their cars.
The lack of power with CNG (I'm told) was only a problem because of the need for a higher compression ratio than that used in the average vehicle and of course this could not be readily altered without a major rebuild.
LPG did linger on for a while because it was readily available for heating/cooking etc. but that also died out probably because of the inconvenience and the short range compared to gas (ie gasoline - we normally call it petrol).
The discarded CNG cylinders were great for guys with lathes because they were a very cheap supply of good quality steel in the form of about 10" dia. cored round stock!