[clug] OT: Protesting the proposed clean feed?

[Sam Couter]

Ian Bardsley <ifb777 at tpg.com.au> wrote:
> why can't they subsidise conversion to Natural Gas and the mechanism to  
> refill from domestic gas points.

Drifting off-topic, but...

Hydrocarbon fuels for motor vehicles must be liquid to achieve a useful
energy density.

It's much harder to liquify and store methane (natural gas, LNG) than
propane (LPG). It takes more energy to do and storage pressures are
higher which makes tanks heavier and more expensive.

The natural gas supply to your house is relatively low pressure and
therefore low capacity. It's gaseous, not liquid, and not suitable for
filling a motor vehicle. Equipment on your premises to liquify and store
the gas ready to fill your car would be prohibitively expensive and
dangerous. Upgrading the supply infrastructure to carry LNG would also
be prohibitively expensive.

Also, how would the government know how much fuel excise to charge you
if it can't determine how much gas you cooked with and how much you
drove with?

LPG arrives at service stations the same way the other fuels do - already
in liquid form in big tanker trucks. That infrastructure would need
to be upgraded to replace LPG with LNG, or duplicated to do both fuels.

I'm not saying these are the reasons why natural gas isn't used as a
motor vehicle fuel, but they may be factors.
-- 
Sam Couter         |  mailto:sam at couter.id.au
OpenPGP fingerprint:  A46B 9BB5 3148 7BEA 1F05  5BD5 8530 03AE DE89 C75C
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