Article

2012-02-05 Economy

Cheap natural gas jumbles energy markets

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Posted by Steve White 2012-02-05 11:45|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 Great in-line comments.
Regret to report that on my last heating bill, I paid $9.81 per thousand cubic feet. This combines the base rate of whatever-it-is with the markup from the energy wholesaler, to the state sales tax, to the distribution company's "usage-based charge" and its "Basic monthly charge" which includes its "Pipeline infrastructure replacement charge".
These extra charges far exceed the base rate of natural gas, and will mostly likely continue to go up, up, up.
That said, I am still better off due to the recently increased availability of natural gas.
Have been attempting to learn about conversion of motor vehicles to run on one form or another of natural gas. Information is fairly hard to find & buried in hype. Two key aspects are: availability of supply stations & hardware required to convert a given vehicle to run on NG. Some conversions allow a car to be switched from running on gasoline to run on natural gas, depending on what's available.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2012-02-05 12:44|| 2012-02-05 12:44|| Front Page Top

#2 It seems to me that a practical use for an overabundance of natural gas would be to create high volume underground storage of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), that only takes 1/600th of the volume, in cryogenic stasis @ -240F, maintained by a dedicated nuclear reactor.

Right now there are LNG ships, as well as some underground storage, so the technology is well known.

Posted by Anonymoose 2012-02-05 13:11|| 2012-02-05 13:11|| Front Page Top

#3 AH9418---$9.81/1000 cf is not that expensive. Natural gas is measured in therms--100,000 btu, which is equivalent to 100 cf of gas at 1000 btu/cf. Fuel oil heat is about 134,000 btu/gallon, so assuming equal combustion efficiencies natural gas is equivalent to $1.31/gallon of #1 fuel oil. Not really outrageous at all. If you equate that to kilowatt hours equivalent, it is 3.34 cents per kilowatt hour. Pretty cheap energy.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2012-02-05 13:25|| 2012-02-05 13:25|| Front Page Top

#4 Our highest priority should be to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil from all countries except Canada. Natural gas could be a big part of that. Much of the oil goes to transportation---and that is largely gasoline. It is hard to get the energy density for vehicles with something other than gasoline.

So it seems to me that for now domestic oil should be used for transportation and natural gas goes for heat and fleet vehicle fuel.

I have a battery bank and solar cells in my place up north. This is done because extending a power line to our little homestead would cost $75k.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2012-02-05 13:42|| 2012-02-05 13:42|| Front Page Top

#5 "Cheap natural gas jumbles energy markets - stirs fears it could inhibit renewables"

Gas is renewable. Pass the beans.

Posted by Barbara 2012-02-05 14:25|| 2012-02-05 14:25|| Front Page Top

#6 Unless things have changed, in cold climates it used to require gasoline to start the vehicle and warm it up before propane could be used. Also requires a "fleet" type of operation to make it worth the paying for the fueling station.

NG vs Diesel w/r to BTU's. Not good for heavy or long haul. Safety? Pressurized NG vs gasoline is not even close.

Gasoline still wins at this time.

Posted by tipover 2012-02-05 14:39|| 2012-02-05 14:39|| Front Page Top

#7 Then there is in situ coal gasification, which will provide several times more gas than shale.

I seriously looked at a home NG to electricity unit. The problem is that gas is quite expensive where I live because of long term contracts fixed when the price was high.

In colder climates these units make sense because of the dual generating and home heating functions.

Posted by phil_b 2012-02-05 15:00|| 2012-02-05 15:00|| Front Page Top

#8 WaPo says that like it's a bad thing...

Ever checked how much advertisement space Soodies & their business partners buy?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2012-02-05 15:01|| 2012-02-05 15:01|| Front Page Top

#9 NPR did a piece on this a few days ago. At first I thought it was a good one because the "reporter" said cheap natural gas was good for jobs and the economy. Then he went on to explain how it would set the development of "renewable energy" back because wind and solar are still government subsidized and can't compete. He then said that government wind subsidies expire next year.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2012-02-05 19:27|| 2012-02-05 19:27|| Front Page Top

#10 If the WaPo is wringing its hands, I hope that the members of OPEC are shitting in their drawers.

Flood the world with inexpensive LNG and Canadian oil, and let the Mideast camel jockeys go back to their 12th century natural conditions.

Posted by Lone Ranger 2012-02-05 19:49|| 2012-02-05 19:49|| Front Page Top

#11 Schwans trucks have run on propane gas for 20 some years. Home delivery of food products. I purchased a Harold Bates(England- Wales I think) Methane converter to use years ago but it was too much of project to use.
In Viet Nam you can go about 200 miles on a load of coal gas powered car. Hit a bump and coals fall out on the ground burning. Not speedy.

Posted by Dale 2012-02-05 19:53|| 2012-02-05 19:53|| Front Page Top

#12 I understand the lads downunder are supplying China gas at around 4.5 cents a liter. Much cheaper than what an Aussie can get it for. That aint right.
Well, it sounded like it fit.

Posted by Dale 2012-02-05 20:03|| 2012-02-05 20:03|| Front Page Top

#13 Back in the 90's when gas was cheap, I looked into converting my Crown Vic to CNG. It was a few hundred dollars in stainless steel pipes and a tank in the trunk. Probably the greenies have made conversion more difficult now, but you can still get factory cars for reasonable prices.

For example: $7000 for a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria CNG Police Pkg Police Interceptor with 30k miles.

http://cngvehicles.net/1996-Ford-Crown-Victoria-Police-Pkg-Morris-OK-251

Posted by rammer 2012-02-05 22:45|| 2012-02-05 22:45|| Front Page Top

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