Using natural gas as a transportation fuel has long been the focus of the Pickens Plan. Now others are finally getting the message, most notably The Wall Street Journal, which advocates replacing gasoline and diesel with cleaner burning American natural gas on the front page of a special section in today’s paper called Innovations in Energy.
“America, Start Your Natural-Gas Engines” notes that utility companies have already turned to natural gas to power their turbines, and chemical companies are doing the same too. But the most important piece of the puzzle – using natural gas as a transportation fuel – is only beginning to be put in place.
With the right policy incentives … natural-gas vehicles could “increase the nation’s energy security, decrease the susceptibility of the U.S. economy to recessions caused by oil-price shocks, and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and other pollutants.”
Sounds a lot like T. Boone Pickens, doesn’t it?
The Journal goes on to point out that 70% of the oil consumed in America is used for transportation fuel. Not only is natural gas cheaper, but it’s cleaner. And, of equal importance, is that it’s a domestic fuel source.
This abundance of natural gas is something we weren’t expecting as a country, but it’s here now, and it’s a gift we should take advantage of,” says Steven Mueller, chief executive of Houston-based natural-gas producer Southwestern Energy Co. “There’s huge savings here and a way to help to environment.”
Read more HERE.