http://www.enn.com/news/2003-04-16/s_3843.asp
Crisis fuels Argentina's drive for natural gas cars 16 April 2003 By Athena Jones, Reuters BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Natural-gas-powered cars have long been preferred by cabbies who spend hours on city streets here, and these days, they can also be spotted among Argentina's smart set after an economic collapse made them a cheap, yet chic, choice. Businessmen in suits and sedans are lining up at filling stations around Buenos Aires for CNG (compressed natural gas), and lines for the fuel were 50 cars deep along the highways leading to beaches this summer. Argentina, with the third-biggest natural gas reserves in Latin America after Bolivia and Venezuela, is spearheading the use of CNG in vehicles and leads the world in the number of natural-gas cars with about 800,000. The economic crisis here has had the unexpected effect of helping the environment. The fuel is cheap, clean burning, and produces fewer harmful emissions than gasoline or diesel. CNG cars today make up 15 percent of Argentina's personal vehicles. The drive to use an abundant national resource as fuel in Argentina echoes similar attempts in Brazil, the world's No. 1 sugar producer, to encourage the use of cane-based ethanol to cut pollution and reduce dependence on oil, even though both countries are oil producers. "It's got some potential. It's one piece of a very large puzzle. It has a lot of application in areas where there's a lot of natural gas," said Jed Bailey, a director of research for Latin America at Cambridge Energy Research. "And Argentina has the infrastructure for it." Argentina also has a new economic reality after the January 2002 peso devaluation pumped up dollar-based gasoline and diesel prices more than 30 percent. "It's less expensive. I'd say I save 20 to 30 pesos a day," said Luis, who drives as part of his work for an energy company. His investment two months ago to outfit his silver Peugeot to run on CNG has already saved him about 1,500 pesos (US$515), about 200 pesos more than it cost to convert the motor. Argentina's government has also jumped on the bandwagon, promoting natural gas use to cut costs in public transportation. Some here argue compressed gas is the fuel of the future. Argentina's Chamber of Compressed Natural Gas, which joins providers and equipment makers, is at work on a Latin American project to unify standards to create a continent-wide network that can later be taken to other parts of the world. "There's a revolution going on in the energy sector that developed countries aren't taking notice of. Developed countries are betting on the fuel cell idea, but that's for some 20 years from now," said chamber member Gregorio Kopyto. NATURAL GAS AROUND THE WORLD Compressed gas is being promoted for use in vehicles in India, South Korea, and Thailand, where it is seen as a good way to reduce oil imports in a region where crude oil reserves are small but gas reserves are high in several countries. Engineers in Italy have been working on a scooter that runs on natural gas. The fuel has also seen increased use in the United States in vehicle fleets such as school and city buses, police cars, and airport ground service vehicles, according to U.S. government and private sector reports. Argentina exports natural gas vehicle technology to Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and the chamber plans to help host a natural gas vehicles conference in Buenos Aires in 2004. For natural gas to be a workable alternative fuel, it must be widely available and the proper infrastructure must be in place. Creating a network of natural gas stations and converting vehicles may not be cost-effective in some places. "You have to make it convenient enough for people to want to do it, and it can't be so prohibitively expensive that they won't," said Linda Doman, an expert for international issues at the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. "You have to have a certain amount of gas stations; otherwise people couldn't drive very far," Doman said. Argentina opened its first compressed gas station in 1984 and now has 1,100 outlets in 17 provinces, making it available to a majority of its 5.4 million car owners. About 110,000 cars were converted last year alone. The local Fiat , Volkswagen, and Peugeot units make CNG cars that also run on gasoline. A natural-gas car costs about 10 percent more than the standard version, a Volkswagen spokesman said. The fuel is stored in a metal cylinder that can take up much of the trunk. GAS AND GOVERNMENT A bill that would require that all public transportation run on the fuel and provide incentives for the gas sector is wending its way through Congress. "To keep bus tickets at the current level, the state is subsidizing diesel prices, which is costing around 20 million pesos a month ($6.9 million)," Energy Secretary Enrique Devoto said in an interview after the bill was presented. "The cost difference would allow us to, for a short time, use the subsidy to fit the bus motors to run on compressed gas. That would lower costs by half and make it possible to maintain accessible ticket prices." The savings are key for the cash-strapped government, where a deep recession led to the biggest ever sovereign debt default last year. Using the fuel could also limit inflation, as the peso has lost about 70 percent in value since devaluation. CNG costs 60 percent less than the cheapest gasoline at the station where Luis filled his tank, run by Repsol YPF . Natural gas is just one of many alternative fuels, along with liquefied petroleum gas, methanol, solar energy, biodiesel, hydrogen, and electricity. Whether it is the wave of the future or not, the fuel is likely to remain a focus of efforts to reduce dependence on costly oil in Argentina - and one welcomed by those watching their wallets. "I travel a lot of kilometers (miles), and I spend a lot less - at least 30 or 35 percent less," said cab driver Miguel Angel Granja, who converted his car as soon as the option became available. "I have to fill the tank three times a day, but it's still cheaper than diesel." Source: Reuters ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> DVD Rentals with No Late Fees - Try Netflix for FREE! http://us.click.yahoo.com/ZKLNcC/pEZFAA/i5gGAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
