Photograph by George Sakkestad
PG&E's Linda Barboza shows off a natural gas fueling station
under construction.
By JULIE MEHTA
Gasoline. You've become accustomed to smelling its odor and watching the gallons add up on the meter as you pump it into your car. And you've become used to seeing the hanging shroud of haze it helps create.
But some say it's high time people give up that familiarity and switch to natural gas. They say it's the fuel of the future--a gaseous, odorless food for your car that leaves the air cleaner and you with a lower gas bill.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is building a natural-gas fueling station on Blaney Avenue near Homestead Road that is scheduled to open in June. It has been in the works for two years and cost between $100,000 and $200,000, not including land improvements, says Linda Barboza of PG&E's energy services department.
"Because of the Clean Air Act, people will have to start using clean-air vehicles, and we want them to have a place to fuel," Barboza said.
The federal law, passed in 1990, requires 30 percent of new fleet vehicles purchased in 1998 to use clean-burning fuels, such as methanol, ethanol or propane. That figure rises to 50 percent by 1999 and 70 percent by 2000. Fleet vehicles are those used by public and private businesses, including PG&E, cities, the fire and police departments, and the U.S. Postal Service.
PG&E is also experimenting with electric vehicles but presently believes natural gas is the best choice for meeting the clean-fuel requirement.
The company has several demonstration vehicles at its Cupertino site that it lends out to various cities and agencies to illustrate the fuel's benefits. These include a blue-gray Honda Accord, a black Chevrolet van and a Crown Victoria.
Barboza says they have received nothing but praise from drivers. She asks each test driver to tie a paper towel around the tailpipe of his car and that of the clean-air vehicle and start them.
"The paper towel on your car will be black, but the one on the clean-air vehicle won't have a mark on it," she says.
Natural gas has long been used for heating and cooking. For a car, it is compressed and pumped into a vehicle's tank, where it disperses.
To convert a car to run on natural gas takes a couple of days. Owners can even have a dual-tank car that can run on either conventional gasoline or natural gas. Conversion costs between $3,000 and $4,500 for light-duty trucks and vans.
Natural gas costs about half as much as gasoline per mile and cars using it require less maintenance, Barboza says.
And it's also very safe.
"You could smoke next to natural gas and it wouldn't blow up. Liquid fuels puddle so are more likely to catch on fire," Barboza says.
The new Cupertino filling station brings to 32 the number of planned or existing stations in California. Natural-gas consumers use a gas card for purchases and fill their tanks themselves in about the same time it takes to pump regular gasoline.
Currently, PG&E is marketing natural gas principally to organizations with many vehicles. But Barboza says anyone can reap benefits by using the fuel.
"For anyone interested in helping the environment and cutting costs, this is a great option," Barboza says.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 3, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.