The Pickens Plan and Crony Capitalism
by Ned RyunI still find it strange when those who claim they believe in free enterprise, limited government, reducing government intervention in the marketplace and fiscal responsibility, suddenly take an “Everywhere but in my house” approach. I am referring to the more than 80 House Republicans, many of whom claim to be conservatives, who are co-sponsoring H.R. 1380, otherwise known as the Pickens Plan after Texas energy tycoon, T. Boone Pickens.
The bill revolves around several main arguments, the first of which is that America must become energy independent. I fully agree with those sentiments: America only produces 5 million barrels of oil a day, yet consumes 20 million, meaning 75% of our oil comes from other producers, some of whom have no love for this country. The second argument builds off the first: we must tap into American energy sources to gain more independence. Again, I completely agree with that argument. The third argument is that natural gas is one of the best American energy resources, therefore we must tap into it, as we have more than 100 years of natural gas that we can produce domestically. There is of course nothing wrong with any of the above arguments.
But where the Pickens Plan starts to go awry is when you look at the nuts and bolts of how the Plan would work. First, as many know, American cars and big rigs don’t currently run on natural gas, so there would have to be a massive overhaul of vehicles.
The plan calls for each big rig to get a $64,000 subsidy for the conversion from diesel to natural gas. With around 8 million large trucks on American highways right now, you can do the math and figure out what the price tag is. It’s one thing to convert big rigs to natural gas. Once that happens, you then have to overhaul thousands of fuel stations across the country that would need to have natural gas available. But don’t worry: the Plan gives a $100,000 tax credit for every station that converts to natural gas. I won’t even really touch on the conversion of cars to natural gas, but there are provisions in the plan that have, by the time it’s all added up, a $11,500 subsidy for every natural gas car.
What is really being discussed with the Pickens Plan is a complete overhaul of our transportation system, which will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, as National Review has pointed out, for very minimal profit; $4 billion by one estimate. And the person who just happens to benefit the most? Someone heavily invested in the natural gas business by the name of T. Boone Pickens.
Now I define crony capitalism, or political entrepreneurship, as someone rigging the political system and trying to use government and the taxpayer, for personal profit. I have a fundamental problem with that: the free enterprise system is not about the government picking winners and losers, or about individuals manipulating the system to take a shortcut to profits off the backs of the American taxpayer. The Pickens Plan is about all of those things.
As the Dallas News reports, Pickens is the largest shareholder in Clean Energy Fuels (CEF), which owns and operates 200 natural gas stations across the country. CEF owns BAF, a Dallas-based company that just happens to convert vehicles to run on natural gas. And Mr. Pickens also owns mineral rights to almost 200,000 acres believed to have significant natural gas resources. So he wants to have legislation put in place that would create a demand for natural gas that would then create a need to convert cars and big rigs to run on natural gas which would of course need stations to refuel as well. He’s got all the bases covered.
While I again applaud the idea of energy independence, and of more domestic production of our own energy, I have a hard time buying any of the arguments of the Pickens Plan except the energy independence one. First, and I mean this somewhat facetiously, any plan or bill that Al Gore, Barack Obama and Harry Reid support, I’m probably against (yes, all are for the Pickens Plan). On a more serious note, is natural gas the most logical starting point for energy independence? I have a very hard time believing that. Converting much of our cars and big rigs for hundreds of billions of dollars, with taxpayers and consumers taking the lions’ share of that burden, does not make sense.
A far better and simpler approach, and one that is far more realistic, is for Congress and the Administration to lift the ban on domestic offshore drilling, and increasing onshore permits instead of manipulating the market with the Pickens Plan. You want more jobs? Well, I’ll go with Occam’s razor and say the simplest answer to us getting energy independence right now is this: get more oil rigs opened up. I know that will horrify the poor environmentalists out there, but the norm over the past decades with oil drilling has been responsible and environmentally friendly, not Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon. Each oil rig brings with it somewhere in the neighborhood of 800-1400 jobs. New rigs means more domestic oil, moving us towards energy independence, and with enough production, will drive the costs of fuel down (you don’t think more domestic production won’t cause international producers to sell cheaper oil?).
We have billions of barrels of oil on (or rather, under) American territory and right off our shores. While I’m realistic in understanding that America probably can’t produce 20 million barrels of oil a day to meet our needs, think about this: we used to, roughly 40 years ago, produce 10 million barrels a day domestically. Now we only produce 5 million, leaving a 15 million gap. We can significantly close that gap in 5 years if Congress is truly serious about this country becoming less dependent on foreign oil. The answers and solutions are very simple, if our elected officials will use their heads and have just a touch of political courage.
The answer to our dependence on foreign oil is not the Pickens Plan in its current form. If Mr. Pickens believes that there is a demand and market for natural gas, and a profit to be made, then he should be encouraged to take that risk, and not burden the American taxpayers with both the risk and cost. In many ways, this plan encapsulates why the tea party rose up in 2009 complete frustration with government spending, fiscal gamesmanship, and too much government interference in the marketplace. Many Americans, of which the tea partiers are the early adopters, want less government intervention, not more. The Pickens Plan calls for more government intervention and a solution that is shortsighted when it comes to achieving our ultimate goals.
The Republican co-sponsors of this bill, if they truly believe in free enterprise, and less government, need to reject the crony capitalism and corporate welfare of the Pickens Plan. They need to remove themselves from the bill and take a far broader, more effective, less expensive approach to energy independence, and I’d encourage those reading this to give the Republican co-sponsors a call and ask them to get off the bill.
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88 Comments
Just add the "nature trick" to that ROI and you'll be swimming in cash.
There is nothing wrong with a plan to encourage the use of natgas in vehicles BUT, there is no need for any subsidies to do so! Natgas conversion is simple and allows the car or truck to maintain it's present gasoline system, able to switch from natgas to gasoline with the flip of a switch. The system is cheap to buy and cheap to install. Natgas, itself, is also cheap. When you come right down to it, the conversion pays off in 5 to 10 fillups, depending on the vehicle, after that it's grinnin' time!
If this was properly advertised there would be no need whatsoever for subsidies! It would sell itself!
This is just another example of politicians of any stripe willing to buy off voters and, in this case, blindly accept the words of a lobbyist who stands to gain tremendously. Don't these clowns think?
This is written from experience!!
Wonder why Pickens forgot to mention all power plants…
Maybe because he don't own them…
So another words anything that enriches pickeens is ok…
Wile we get T Boned !
Well, my representative is lying in a Texas rehab with holes in her head trying to put a sentence together.
However, I will still email Trent Franks from AZ and give him a beating for going along with this BS.
T. Boone can eat a cow pie.
A few years back, I asked for invests to be done on many in Congress (past and present) …all those doing the "Green Commercials" and promoting T. Boone Pickens. Something STUNK then and smells even worse now. Much of this is also centered around Agenda 21. These guys have not only "Got to GO" – but we need a DoJ who is willing to do its job. Many of these guys made investments into Pickens and is all about them and their pocket …NOT "We the People".
Nick, how much should that conversion cost for an average vehicle?
Just once, when any of these shysters have an idea, just once I wish someone would ask someone that actually works in the industry what they think…
WHERE in a truck am I gonna stuff natural gas with the energy equivalency of 300 gal. of diesel…? The junk always takes up more room than the diesel it replaces…and it doesn't have the same energy density, so I have to fuel more often…is there going to be an adjustment in Hours of Service for drivers because we're always sitting in fuel islands filling up the truck…? Are you ready to pay even more for goods going by truck because we're using up payload space for fuel tanks…?
Is anyone gonna convert my APU units I use to keep the truck engine off while running hotel loads in Phoenix or Tucson in the summer, and Buffalo in the winter…?
Is the government going to switch everyone all at the same time, run dual fueling stations for trucks using either fuel, and cover the costs to convert…?
WHO DREAMS UP THESE STUPID IDEAS, ANYWAY…?
Progressives are progressives, no matter what party they claim to affiliate.
Funny thing is, put all these guys together, and they still can't muster enough common sense to fill a banana hammock.
T Boone wants to be pickin' your pocket. And everyone else's as well. If his plan is so great, he needs to ask the government to simply get out of the way. If you have to have the government force everyone else to go along with your plan, then maybe it isn't such a great idea after all.
He's such a hypocrite.
I'm a big NatGas advocate. But I can't support any Big Government approach to the transition.
That being said, MY plan for moving America toward energy independence is FAR better than Pickens' plan. And rather than costing money, it would actually SAVE money.
First, eliminate the Energy Department. Lock, stock, and barrel. That has been the most useless agency ever created.
And second, divest to the States ALL "environmental protection" authority. The EPA has completely worn out its usefulness, and has grown into a bureaucratic nightmare.
Do those two things, and watch how fast our domestic energy industry takes off, while saving Billions on those two useless bureaucracies.
Sadly, this is the only kind of "capitalism" the Left (and a lot of the Right) know. They use the power of government to shape the market to their choosing, thereby manipulating the choices of all of us peons who are apparently too stupid to think for ourselves.
If there's a market for it, remove burdensome regulations, get out of the way, and let it happen on its own. It will be far cheaper for everyone involved. Of course, that takes money — and power — out of the hands of the busybodies in Washington, so it will never happen that way. They have to get their slice of the pie.
Where I am, it was $600, Bassett. And it was a Jeep Wrangler that was converted.
I'd be willing to bet it's cheaper in the US.
Another thing to consider is that it is cleaner for the motor and the oil, not to mention for the environment. Not that I'm a treehugger at all, but that part does turn some folks cranks!!
Will natgas even work in a diesel, Mj? You know, without spark plugs and all?
Good article. This would bring up one of my biggest complaints against the GOP (I am a libertarian conservative), and that is their policies that benefit big business. Now there is nothing wrong with supporting big business as long as it is part of advancing a free market, but often it isn't. The GOP has supported primarily big business even if goes against a free market. Many times these policies can be harmful to small businesses and entrepreneurs. I would like the GOP to orient towards true free market policies rather than corporatist type policies. All to often you see guys like Pickens benefiting from this government largess. Corporate welfare is an example that should stop in my view. This gas plan is more corporate welfare. Pickens has billions of dollars, he should fund car conversion if he believes in it that strongly. If he is not willing to put his money on the line, then why should it be good enough for the tax payers?
Ah, crony capitalism… is there anything worse for free market advocates?
BTW, you are absolutely right about energy density. Nevertheless, in a car, I'm not talkin' rigs now, it barely makes a difference. The cost savings at the pump is worth it, as long as the supply is handy!
Up yer Pickens, Pickens.
Not going to happen because the Nation is broke…. and the Citizens of the Nation are broke.
You actually have to run BOTH fuels…
http://www.drivers.com/article/715/
It also gives people the costs involved in a conversion direct from one to another…
So, now you have to fuel TWICE…one with diesel, then another with CNG…
Just bloody brilliant…</sarc off>
And in a semi, torque is EVERYTHING…
I second that, John!
That 53 foot trailer you haul around should hold about enough Natural Gas to equal your diesel.
Sheesh.
…Lee
I can't buy any fewer GM cars than I am already not buying. For a MF'er who would be selling oranges at a freeway exit without a government bailout, may he die in a fire. We fought the King of England, the Nazis, and the Communists to avoid this…
For municipality fleet use, its ideal…buses, cars, trash trucks…anything that doesn't travel too far from the fuel island, and doesn't move too heavy a load, (passengers aren't heavy, just bulky), isn't too far from on-road service or a tow…and the exhaust discharge has a great deal lower environmental impact..
That fuel tether also keeps the usage mileage down, so no flaky side trips…like cops taking their cars home out of the city…
I-70 through Eisenhower…Grapevine…Lewiston hill…Mont Eagle…Cabbage Patch…
Color me exceedingly "Derp?"…and I want to be sick that day…
Way too many Texans support this bill. They should be all be voted out.
Too many Louisianans support this bill too….some just taking office for the first time……
The problem with attempts to resolve our energy solutions is…..everyone wants a solution NOW…..no one has the damn patience it takes to put any plan into action. Someone comes up with a reasonable solution, in walks the tree-hugger brigade and their cause becomes gospel. Solution? Shut it down…that's their answer for everything.
The Horizon explosion had many factors that contributed to it's happening. Yes…it was a man-made disaster because of incompetency and pressure over the almighty dollar…….but make NO mistake….our current engergy crisis is INDEED man-made……man-made as in our current ditherer-in-chief….
Alternative energy solutions should be a worthy desire and goal….but don't shut down current applications in pursuit of an alternative. Too many bureaucrats will stick their noses in it, allowing tree-huggers their voice and once the cronies get involved….everyone gets pissed off, then wants to leave…..
If you want one Honda sells a cng vehicle (Civic) in CA and NY. A $4000 rebate if you can get one. ..24 city 36 Hwy 28 combined. $25K price tag. Saw a CNG station with $1.39 price tag in OKC.
I made a poster called GREEN BANK AUTHORITY to summarize in scrapbook format, the whole climate alarmism connection to green energy speculation:
http://oi52.tinypic.com/wlt4i8.jpg
Cold fusion featured in the LA Times in '89 before it was debunked. Environmentalists were aghast at the possibility of cheap clean energy:
“It’s like giving a machine gun to an idiot child.” – Paul Ehrlich (mentor of John Cook of SkepticalScience.com, author of "Climate Change Denial")
“Clean-burning, non-polluting, hydrogen-using bulldozers still could knock down trees or build housing developments on farmland.” – Paul Ciotti (LA Times)
“It gives some people the false hope that there are no limits to growth and no environmental price to be paid by having unlimited sources of energy.” – Jeremy Rifkin (NY Times)
“Many people assume that cheaper, more abundant energy will mean that mankind is better off, but there is no evidence for that.” – Laura Nader (sister of Ralph)
Pickens is just another big talking Texas oil man who never had anything but his own self interest at heart….don't believe the BS about "doing it for the country" or "the next generation" You might as well be listening to Weiner….
It's just very intresting that Pickens wants to corner the market and he doesn't want to come forward with all the 'hairy eyeballs'.
About two years ago, he was testing the waters with the CNG garbage. With Pickens, as with about all of the people like him, he doesn't do anything without doing something for himself. You just have to automatically figure that in.
My only hope is that not only is he stranded with HIS 'idea', but that he is left hanging with a bunch of debt and useless props. That will serve him right.
Hey Mr. Prickens, if you really want everyone to start driving natural gas cars, here's an idea: put all those millions of dollars into funding research. Invent a device or process that makes it cheaper to drive a car that runs on natural gas. People will adopt it, because (newsflash!) people like keeping their money.
Pros: you'll get rich – so you can take those millions and invest them in still more inventions; and we won't need you and your government goons to force everyone to adopt it.
Cons: government won't be able to dig it's claws deeper into the lives of citizens.
But so far, oil is still the cheapest form of energy – in terms of overall cost – to use to run cars.
Where are you getting your conversion kits from?
I've yet too see one under $900 for the kit, plus at least $1000 for the tank (it's extra) and then you still need to have it installed by a qualified Technician (and we don't come cheap these days) for it to be "legal" to operate on the highway.
Then when all is said and done you need to be prepared for the "power" (horsepower) loss you get with natural gas. Depending on the application, it can be "significant"……
I like the idea of natural gas powered vehicles, but much like hybrids, it's only useful for a small segment of the driving population………..
End all subsidies and legalize hemp. You can make a ton of fuel from hemp, let us try and see if it is economically viable via competition in a real free market.
Gentle Readers,
The fastest and cheapest way to make motor fuel from natural gas is to make methanol. Methanol can be blended 50/50 with gasoline to make a motor fuel that can be burned cleanly in any vehicle that operates on conventional gasoline.
The downside is that methanol only has about 1/2 of the energy of gasoline, so a 50% blend of methanol & gasoline would yield about 3/4 of the energy of 100% gasoline. But it is fairly straightforward.
Fuel for 18 wheel trucks can be made from Kerogen, which is derived from oil shale. The United States has the worlds largest oil shale reserves.
All of this is economically practical today.
Sincerely,
John Lepant Brighton CO
Pickens is a smart guy and has some good ideas but your absolutely right. Cronyism is pure evil, regardless of how well intentioned it may or may not be.
isn't methanol what is used in Indy 500 cars?
When it comes down to it Pickens is just as evil as Soros. He wants to use the government to remodel society in his image, enriching himself and destroying the system that allowed him to achieve prosperity, rendering it useless to others. Like Soros, he wants to be king, and for us to be his serfs.
Dear JM,
Yes, Sir!
Sincerely,
John
I would have thought they used higher energy fuel….. It amazes me that those little engines can turn over at 10,000 rpm for several hours and not disintegrate.
Crony Capitalism – a precursor to socialism.
"Don't these clowns think?"
I assume that was a rhetorical question.
The government is not the solution – the government is the problem.
Amen brother. Hemp will provide fuel, clothing, food, and put the farmer back on his feet.
Ever since first hearing about the 'Pickens Plan' and various reactions to it by some conservatives, I realized even more how easy it is for the well-connected to gather support for taxpayer-funded govt-controlled boondoggles which are meant to benefit the well-connected. Not only that, it's presented, with a straight face, as 'patriotic'.
it's corruption, legal, but corruption.
The ruling classes are jockeying for position. Gore and his ilk with the cornering of the carbon offset credit markets and Pickens’ ilk with the fundamental transformation of our natural gas/transportation sector.
Fun to watch, but one way or another……I’m… NOT… going to… PAY… for it.
Just a thought/question…..Would a tank of compressed gas result in a small mushroom cloud type of explosion with lots of shrapnel if a collision ruptures the tank? How about all the dorks filling up?
Dear JM,
What I find interesting about all of this is that back in 2007 during the last gas price spike, the ' big plan ' was to create an ' alcohol fuel economy ' . We would use alcohol motor fuel.
For years I did just that: There was an indy station here in Brighton that sold GASAHOL, a mix of 20% ethanol, 5% methanol and 75% gasoline. I had an old Chevy pickup that LOVED THAT FUEL. Ran great on it!
Then, in the name of ' consumer protection ', sale of that fuel was banned. Then, a few years later, ethanol was required as a fuel additive, often with disastrous results for motorists. You have to include methanol in the mix or the ethanol won't properly mix with the gasoline. Cars stalled.
So, the private sector was selling alcohol fuel to willing customers. The government banned that. Then alcohol was required to be sold to unwilling customers.
Mr. Ryun is absolutely right! Just get the government out of the market! Mr. Pickens Plan sounds great for fleet vehicles – I don't think any intervention is required. Once fleet vehicles are commonly using natural gas, I'm sure it will be more widely used.
Unless the government intervenes in the market, again!
Sincerely,
John
The Pickens Plan includes windmills, which Pickens is also heavily invested in via Mesa Power and Pampa Wind Project. His "plan" is to have 22% of electricity in the U.S. produced by windmills in 10 years, which he admits will require permanent government subsidies. It will also require the seizure of lots of farm and ranch land for power cables and whatever it takes to get electricity from one place to another.
The Pampa Wind Project will install more than 2,600 windmills, each around 400 feet tall, over 400,000 acres (625 sq.mi.). How environmentally aesthetic that will be! It might intermittently make enough electricity for as many as 1.5 million households, if it operates at its nominal capacity, which wind farms have never come close to doing.
With America's working people being forced to cover all losses, Pickens and his rich partners will make a fortune, including Nancy Pelosi, who invested in Pickens's Clean Energy Fuels Corp. on the first day of its IPO.
Another fine example of the leftist Democrat principle of redistribution of wealth, from America's working people to the rich friends of politicians.
Hell yeah!! And those would be just the start, there's a whole bunch more three letter agencies that can be shut down.
Not the govt's job. Just say no. This is money legislated directly to T Boone P. My tax dollars to fund his business scheme. He can use his own or private money to run his business.
Want to encourage CNG usage in vehicles WITHOUT crony capitalism? Easy… Some deregulation:
1. lift the absurd flow limitation of home-installed comressor systems
2. detangle the beaurocratic tangle of getting compressor and filling systems certified
3. Remove the EPA roadblocks. Allow any aftermarket conversion with NO emissions considerations EXCEPT that it retain closed loop mixture control and adjusts timing curves to reflect CNG requirements instead of gasoline – no testing required.
4. 20 year moratorium on road fuel taxes on CNG.
Those 4 things will cause a (pardon the pun) explosion in cng conversions. CNG conversions cost a fortune due to tank costs, but regulatory burdens make it all but impossible for the free market to switch to CNG. Remove these barriers and CNG adoption will take off like c razy, and NO crony capitalism needed. The market for NG will exist and the investors will put out the money to get it out of the ground. Plain and simple.
Just so you know, Primer, I'm in Costa Rica where the rules and regulations aren't as…ah,…strict. The whole system including installation was actually a little more than $650, I went and checked (though it was a couple of years ago) The price, I would think, would have come down and would be cheaper in the US.
Yes, there is power loss, minimal in a Jeep but, it still makes sense for most cars (maybe not at 3 grand or so though!) Are not propane powered cars fairly common in the US? It's basically the same system. I would say it's more cost effective than a hybrid in any case! Even if it does cost 3 large to convert!
If you're not a lead foot (from the acceleration not the gas use point of view) and you want to save a lot of money in fuel and maintenance, it is a good option!
Well, there you go, Mj. If only the local run fleets were converted it could save a pile of money and oil.
As to the tether, most conversions for cars allow a flip of a switch changeover to gasoline (cars retain their regular tanks).
I'm not saying it's for everyone, of course but, I'll guess half the cars on the road are "plain brown wrapper" transportation and it would work out fine for them.
LOL, Ozark! And make a decent crater in the road if it goes off! (not that it could mind you!)
Now, that's the way to go, Goo!
You'll note, Leaux, the huggers are already lining up to stop the big new find just announced in the Gulf!
A pox on them all!
Crap for brains! The lot of them, Nik.
Everything else I agree with, Hired but, in fact, it is cheaper to run most cars on natgas from both the fuel cost and the maintenance cost. There is no way in hell it should be subsidized though!
Sorry, hemp, wonderful as it is, still takes valuable farm land out of producton. We need food and there is lots of oil.
Which they will, John. You can pretty much make book on it!
No worries with that, Jeff. It's just as safe as propane, perhaps better. One of the science geeks (in a good way) can correct this but, I think natgas disperses much quicker from a spill than propane which tends to pool around a leak.
Yep, KS we have to be on guard! There are pikers at both ends of the scale!
Perfect, Geezer! You are absolutely right. Though the conversion cost is not really a "fortune", it still pays off faster than buying a hybrid (from the figures I've seen).
With home compressors it makes it even more attractive if we could just get the regulatory busy bodies out of the picture for a while!
It definately does not need government subsidies, just government out of the way!
It amazing how stupid these "educated" people can be.
Pickens is an awful excuse for a human being. Anybody who votes for his scams needs to be removed from office next year.
Do you surf?
Hemp is food. The seed can be used to produce nutritious food containing protein, omega3 and omega6 among other nutrients. The rest of the plant can be used for industrial purposes, including fuel and fiber.
Hemp is a much more rugged and durable plant than other argicultural products, requiring less fertilizer and pesticides. It also can grow pretty much anywhere in the USA, and in some parts year round.
There absolutely no reason to not grow hemp. The only reason it is illegal is to protect establishment industrial interests.
This kind of cronyism defined the 19th and 20th centuries. Lets try to ensure it does not continue long into the 21st.
I made a poster called GREEN BANK AUTHORITY to summarize in scrapbook format, the whole climate alarmism connection to green energy speculation:
Authority: http://oi52.tinypic.com/wlt4i8.jpg
Why is it that it always involves yet another massive government plan? Why can't the government just get the hell out of the way and let market forces sort things out? We don't need billions in tax credits and federal funding, and we don't need government to annoint the winners and regulate the losers out of business. Frankly, their track record isn't all that great, which is exactly what one would expect when a bunch of lawyers and other dilettantes start writing legislation. Hell, they only rarely even read the bills they pass.
How many windmill and solar farms do you think would be built? How many Chevy Volts would be sold without federal subsidies? How many compact fluorescent light bulbs? How many partial flush toilets?
And these partisan clowns think they can actually solve the energy problems that they created in the first place? Don't make me laugh.
Nope, scuba, Upper.
What is a hotel load?
Scuba is for disciplined people who plan things out and take care of equipment. Surfing is for people who leave work whenever a good swell comes in. I hope to make it down to La Libertad in El Salvador this year.
I saw Pickens challenged on this point on Stossel, who essentially asked him "if it's such a good idea, why don't you put your own money toward it? Why do you need taxpayer money?"
He was utterly flummoxed. I don't even think he understood the question. He came off as a sad old man, desperately trying to be important.
"Hotel load" refers to the necessary power to run the ancillaries such as air conditioning, heating, lighting, food preparation and/or storage, electrical, etc…
These are the system loads to maintain the internal environment so you can live in the truck. The term originally referred to various power requirements on ships, trains, and buildings…it transfers straight across to vehicles such as a semi tractor that has a sleeper section, or even custom rigs that are very much like mini apartments, with running hot and cold water, shower, and toilet facilities…
The industry has been going to small, attached diesel powered auxiliary power units to run the hotel loads, rather than use the tractor engine at idle to support them…an APU uses an average of only one gallon of fuel during an eight-hour period, as opposed to eight gallons or so for engine idle…that saves eight hours or more of wear on the tractor engine, and $28.00 or more in fuel per day…with a tractor usually out almost 300 days or more a year, well, you can do the math…
This doesn't even count the direct environmental impact of having only 1/8th the emissions…
The smart thing would be to install APU's as original standard equipment on sleeper truck rigs…however, most first-time owner-operators buy the truck through the company they haul for, and the companies don't pay for them when they order the truck…
Riiighhhhhtt….
Couple all that LNG with a hazmat load of Liquid O2…
Not this driver…
Very interesting. Thank you for keeping the economy going.
Yes indeed Nick….saw that too….
Watch the strong role they will play in all of this too….should be interesting to say the least…
Sorry took so long to respond………..Had a little water issue in the house……….Half a foot to be exact…….Big Fun……..
Anyways……Costa Rica explains the price difference…….The "Fed" is actually the biggest reason the cost is so high in the U.S.. They regulate the crap out of it. If you where to read the safety requirements for the NG storage tanks without knowing what it was going to hold you'd probably assume it was for " spent nuclear fuel rods"……Complete overkill. Unfortunately in the case of propane it is still mostly relegated to commercial (or fleet vehicles). It is excellent for giving Diesel engines a boost though……more……….
I think your Jeep may be the perfect candidate for NG though. Most of the Jeep engines are fairly low powered to start with, but Chrysler "geared" the hell out of them to make up for it……..So you don't really notice the loss……
You are definitely right about Hybrids. Either Propane or NG are a far better choice than gas/electric. Both are far cheaper to own and operate, they are more reliable (to a point) in freezing temps, and most certainly are better for the environment than a car with a huge "bio hazard" strapped to its belly…………..
Sorry about your water problem!!
Yeah, I read some of the regs for California. It's freaking unbelieveable! You'd think they were actually trying to lose in their race to the bottom of the barrel. Losing, of course, being first there!
Propane is used a lot here and yet, we don't hear much about fires due to leaks (You'd have to have an idea about CR mechanics standards to know why this is surprising!)
Oh well, it's a really good alternative. Too bad the feds are regulating it out of use!
Like you say below, my Jeep was fine with it and there are hundreds of other models that would be just as good using natgas.
Good choice. Or Witches Rock in Costa Rica is great for you boarders too!
Nick, are you retired in Costa Rica? Costa Rica is beautiful, but despite our problems still easier to earn living in USA.
LOL, Upper! That's a tough one. Yes, I retired here 20 years ago from Canada but, I couldn't sit still. I'm in broadcasting now. A very opinionated conservative DJ on a rock radio station, just because I like to. The combination of rock music and being able to shoot my mouth off pleases me immensely! And in English, no less!
Yes, it takes some settling for a little less if you don't have the bucks stashed away (I'm lucky in that regard. I'm a fairly successful inventor) but, it's definately worth it!
You are enjoying the good life. Good for you. To Central Americans we are all Gringos. Spin a Geddy Lee song and deconstruct Marxixm for me.
I do spin Geddy, Upper and I have a cool story about him and I back in the 60s that I will not divulge here!! Thanks!
This is a very informative article. While I support a move to alternative energy, I also oppose big government subsidy. I am looking to CNG conversion for my vehicle and there is so much red tape its scary. I learned from SkyCNG.com that it really is much easier than many political websites want you to believe. Many websites try to convince you that CNG can only be attained with "government approved" processes… NOT TRUE! Check out skycng.com and learn what I did. They don't sell anything and are very informative.
Ned since much of the growth of NG from fracking is in red states I think your opposition to this bill screws many republicans. Giving companies a tax credit and lowering their tax burden is consistent with being a republican. The tax break is finite it's not like some never ending subsidy. Once the conversions are done, so is the tax break. Also it has a built- in sunset provision. The industry will benefit long term from lower and more stable fuel costs. This helps not only trucking but all businesses that are vulnerable to fluctuating transportation costs. Boone himself was at least at one time a republican (not sure about now) but has always been right leaning. It's not like he's the only one producing natural gas, several companies will benefit from greater production and use of natural gas. If this initiative is successful as Boone says the market(free) will take of building the filling station infrastructure. Once that's in place the consumer vehicle market will follow. Using a fuel that produces lower emissions also makes the stupid environmental standards less burdensome for car manufacturers.
Ned I really think this hit piece on Boone and HR 1380 is both misguided and a disservice to Republicans & all Americans alike.
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