The World and LP Gas

Fontaine Modification Co. is reorganizing itself into three business segments to provide more intense focus on the individual markets.

The company’s three segments will be Fontaine Alternative Fuels, Fontaine Auto Transport Services and Fontaine Modification Services.

“Segmenting the business, utilizing Marmon Toolbox Concepts, will enable us to better focus on these three key markets to enhance customer satisfaction and support emerging growth initiatives,” said Will Trantham, president of Fontaine Modification.

Fontaine Alternative Fuels will concentrate on performing conversions of both gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles to run in conjunction with autogas (propane) or to be powered entirely by this emerging fuel source. The business will offer conversions of new OEM vehicles using EPA-certified technologies, as well as aftermarket conversions using EPA-certified technologies. In addition, it will support modifications for autogas and CNG-powered heavy-duty trucks.

Read more here.

West Virginia considers Propane- Powered School Buses

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The state Department of Education is hoping to save millions by hopping on the alternative fuel bandwagon.

A deal is in the works to convert to propane-powered school buses, which could create more than $3,000 in savings in fuel costs per bus per year, according to the department's executive director of transportation, Ben Shew.

"That's about a 50 percent reduction," Shew said. "We use about six million gallons of fuel annually statewide. When you consider the cost of diesel fuel, that's about $24 million. With this, we think we can reduce that cost close to $10 million a year."     Read more here.

Well-to-Wheels analysis shows Autogas has the lowest carbon emissions: setting the standard for environmentally friendly fuels

A recently updated German study demonstrates that Autogas compares favourably with compressed natural gas in Western Europe.  

The big picture

Contrary to common belief, airborne emissions from road vehicles come not just from the exhaust pipe. The zero-emissions vehicle, which is currently been hyped, is actually a myth. Neither hydrogen, nor biofuels nor the pure battery-powered electric vehicle are genuinely emissions-free, as in having zero impact on the environment. When assessing the impact of a fuel on the environment, especially its potential to contribute to climate change, and when comparing alternative fuels like Autogas to conventional fuels, one needs to take into account all aspects of the supply of the fuel, as well as how much of it is consumed in the vehicle.

LP Gas is a by-product of the extraction of petroleum and natural gas, of the refining of petroleum products and the production of synthetic liquid fuels, including – in some cases – those from renewable sources. Supply of LP Gas is set to continue to expand in the coming years, particularly with increased production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the separation of methane from other products contained in the natural gas stream is performed more easily in the liquefaction process. The portability and ease of transportation of LP Gas as a commodity fuel also favours the development of the market. The fuel’s environmental advantages provide a further reason to be confident about the prospects for demand for LP Gas in general and Autogas in particular.

Providing information on the benefits  of using Autogas isn’t the end of the story. Only a holistic comparison with other fuels, taking all their different attributes into account can provide a solid basis for evaluation. Given the practical constraints on a number of alternative transport fuels, it makes sense to compare the environmental characteristics of Autogas against those of its main competitor: compressed natural gas (CNG). 

Read more here.

Propane Autogas Primed For A Bountiful 2013

Right before the holidays, Student Transportation Inc. quietly issued a press release that many in the clean fleet arena viewed as a harbinger of great things to come for propane autogas. Various stakeholders are certainly hoping it is, indeed, the case.

Adoption of alternative fuels among fleets is light but building momentum, so one could argue that all news from the sector is notable in some fashion. However, the STI announcement was unambiguously big, especially for propane. The company was not deploying four or 40 propane-powered school buses, but 400.

Read More Here.

Shale-Gas Output Led Production to Record in 2011, U.S. Says

U.S. natural-gas production rose to an all-time high of 28.5 trillion cubic feet in 2011, led by record output from shale deposits, an Energy Department report showed.

Gross gas output rose 6.2 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, the department’s Energy Information Administration said in its Natural Gas Annual report, released late yesterday.

Production of gas from shale deposits climbed 46 percent to 8.5 trillion cubic feet in 2011, the most in department data going back to 2007. Shale accounted for 30 percent of total output in 2011, up from 22 percent the previous year.

Shale production surged as drilling technologies such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, made it more economical to extract gas from rock formations such as the Marcellus in the Northeast and the Bakken in North Dakota.

Output from other gas wells fell 7.2 percent to 12.29 trillion, the lowest level in data going back to 1967. The share of total output from other gas wells fell to 43 percent from 49 percent, department data show.

Dry-gas production rose 7.4 percent to 22.9 trillion cubic feet in 2011, an all-time high.

Autogas engine research projects advance in North America

PERC is funding a number of research projects to evaluate the performance of propane Autogas in a range of internal combustion engines. These projects are primarily run on engine dynos – test rigs where the engines are tested outside of a vehicle – at research organizations in order to accurately assess and quantify the performance of these engines when operating on Autogas.

All of the projects are either in the initial set-up phase or not yet started, so this report is more about what we will be doing rather than results. The actual results will follow in future months and will be the subject of a later report (if not multiple reports).

Read more here.