In the latest installment of RFF’s Weekly Policy Commentary, RFF Senior Fellow Alan Krupnick takes a closer look at the economic, energy and environmental benefits of natural gas vehicles. Interest in technologies to run vehicles on natural gas has been replenished recently as projections for recoverable domestic natural gas sources have grown.
According to Krupnick, the transition to natural gas vehicles could help the U.S. cut its dependence on foreign oil, lower greenhouse gas emissions and, given the projected abundance of natural gas, do so in a reasonably affordable manner. He says the heavy-truck fleet could be the right place to start:
Natural gas-fueled heavy-duty trucks could, under certain conditions, become a good deal for society in terms of reducing oil and local pollution emissions with reasonable cost-effectiveness, though they help only modestly with GHG emissions. What could derail the promise of NGVs? Regulations to control water pollution associated with recovering gas shale could raise costs and make gas shale uneconomic. In addition, we have ignored safety concerns with liquefied natural gas (LNG). Such concerns could discourage construction of refueling stations and the widespread use of LNG-fueled trucks more generally.
Read Krupnick’s, "Can Natural Gas Vehicles Make a Difference?” here.
