CNG- The only alternative
Over the past hundred plus years the world has relied on oil as the mainstay fuel for vehicles, and this dependence has backed us into a corner. Many people have introduced solutions to this dependence, but unfortunately, none have been put into real world use. These solutions included Electricity, Hydrogen, Alcohol, and many others. All have been analyzed and scrutinized greatly since their introduction and many have great benefits over oil but none have been put into use on a large scale. This is the result mainly of large oil companies and auto manufacturers, which have heavy weight in politics, who are very complacent to make a large switch. This complacency has caused the world to continually use and process oil nonstop depleting nearly all reserves worldwide. Now the projected life span of oil has been changed to less than fifty years left before all oil has been consumed. People are finally realizing this fact and want to make a change but they do not know where to start. CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) is another alternative to gas that has not been addressed nearly as much as other solutions. CNG has many benefits and nearly no negatives that give it perfect reason to be the next fuel for
Questions and Answers About Compressed Natural Gas. International Association for Natural CNG is not the new kid on the block by any stretch. It has been around for over one hundred years safely heating homes and cooking meals. It has just recently been put into real world use as a fuel for combustion engines and so far has produced great results. When compared to oil, CNG is seen as a great alternative. One of the most protested products of oil combustion is the production of Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, Methane Gas, and noxious Hydrocarbons (Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition). These four air pollutants cause damage to the environment in four different ways. First of all, Carbon Monoxide is capable of killing any living creature when inhaled too greatly. Carbon Dioxide is produced by every animal on the planet, yet the amount of Carbon Dioxide total created by combustion engines is nearly 35 times greater than that of living creatures total. Also, Methane Gas, when mixed with Carbon Dioxide, creates damaging acid rain that eats away at nearly everything it comes in contact with. Finally, Hydrocarbons are the main cause of the large and ever growing hole in the O-zone layer at the South Pole, and over half of all Hydrocarbons produced by cars are emitted into the atmosphere upon filling up of a fuel tank. CNG, on the other hand, does not produce any Hydrocarbons or Carbon Monoxide and only creates 1/6 to 1/3 the amounts of Carbon Dioxide and Methane (California Energy Commission). These tasks accomplished by CNG are the result of it being a cleaner fuel and by having a completely sealed fueling process. These facts alone make CNG a clear winner to emissions counsels. Another complaint of oil is the production of hazardous suspended fine particle matter (small particles created upon combustion) have also been proven to increase the possibility for respiratory infection while CNG has been proven to only create a small fraction of these particles comparatively. Not only are there performance concerns, people also worry whether the special fuel cells used to hold CNG are entirely safe. The fuel cells (cylinders), which hold the CNG, can be considered the safest part of a vehicle. They are highly reinforced to prevent puncture, and even if the tanks ruptured, the fuel would not drip onto the ground like gasoline, which is a fire hazard. . The CNG would quickly dissipate into the atmosphere since it is lighter than air. One could argue that CNG could ignite while it dissipates into the air, but flammability is not a problem since CNG requires a high ignition temperature, about 650°C, compared with about 350°C for gasoline (Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition). It also has a narrow range of flammability; that is, in concentrations in air below about 5 percent and above about 15 percent, natural gas will not burn. The design of CNG cylinders are also subjected to a number of federally required "severe abuse" tests, such as heat and pressure extremes, gunfire, collisions, and fires. Accidental ignition is a non-existent safety problem with CNG vehicles because the fueling process is completely sealed and only requires about five minutes depending on fuel tank size.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2217
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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