Page 93 - Technology and Innovation Journal - 19-1

TRANSPORTATION AND ENERGY 431

vehicle for its use during its lifetime. These energy will provide the energy requirements for decades.
requirements are best understood as they relate to the The growth in consumption globally will almost
function and support of the vehicle and its normal double in the next 30 years (Figure 3). The ultimate
use (4). These major vehicle systems fall into the fol- primary users of natural gas will most likely come
lowing categories: drivetrain losses, power to wheels, from the power generation sector, but, as with all
parasitic losses, and engine losses (Figure 2). large commercial undertakings, it will take years,
The aforementioned energy use categories, exclud- most likely decades, to convert and bring enough
ing the engine losses, represent less than a third of online generating capacity to fully utilize the size and
the total energy used by the vehicle in carrying out scope of the currently estimated natural gas reserve.
its functions. Every automobile designer and man- Except for those current facilities that use natural gas
ufacturer seeks to improve the efficiency of vehicles for peaking requirements, the infrastructure, along
by reducing the fuel needed to support each of these with the experience and expertise of the work force,
systems. This includes reducing mechanical friction will also need to develop with the technology and
of the moving parts, the rolling resistance of the tires, the availability of the gas supplies.
and even the wind resistance due to frontal profile This buildup and future demand for natural gas
and body shape. by the utility industry will initially provide an even
The reality is that the rest of the energy consumed greater opportunity for its use in the transportation
is related to engine requirements. With combustion sector. It is evident that the transportation sector will
within the cylinders approaching their efficiency lim- consume only a small percentage of the total natural
its, other strategies need to be employed to improve gas needed for the region once the power genera-
the overall vehicle efficiency. In fact, small incremen- tors convert to natural gas. Until then, the use in
tal improvements in all the other categories will not the transportation sector will create economic value
gain the needed fuel economy numbers required by for the region far surpassing the actual value of the
consumers and regulatory agencies unless the engine’s gas commodity. Every regional quantity of gas that
energy requirements are addressed aggressively. offsets the use of liquid petroleum in the transpor-
Note, each of the energy use categories will see tation sector lessens the need for foreign oil (Figure
continued innovative improvements, but it will take 4). Since over half of our liquid energy comes from
a sizeable decrease in engine energy requirements to non-domestic and often politically volatile locations,
meet the currently mandated and future anticipated any offset of that supply will mean real dollars left in
Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards for the the U.S. for use in creating jobs and improving the
U. S. and similar fuel economies and regulated emis- social infrastructure.
sions requirements in other countries (5). These new It is purported that the current use of non-do-
energy requirements will necessitate a breakthrough mestic crude oil is a result of our inability, or
in how we utilize fuel for the power plants in our unwillingness, to acquire and use the considerable
vehicles and will also most likely require the use of reserves we have historically identified in the west-
a variety of alternate versions of the fossil fuels that ern part of the country. Whatever the reasons, the
we currently extract, including natural gas. future anticipated increases in the price of foreign
oil, plus the growing demand for that foreign oil by
THE ENERGY SECTOR other industrialized nations, will eventually require
The recent exploratory drilling of the Marcellus us to either use our reserves or develop innovative
Shale finds, using innovative directional drilling and energy alternatives, particularly for our transporta-
advanced hydro-fracturing techniques, has opened an tion sector. Either way, this effort encourages us to
opportunity to create an historic turning point, bring- take a proactive stance instead of continuing to be
ing the nation back to a solid financial footing and reactionary to the volatile world economic climate,
creating a new sense of self-sufficiency. In turn, this where energy is the primary issue and the true source
has created an opportunity to bring greater energy of monetary value.
security that can serve as a model for the rest of the Natural gas has a smaller carbon footprint than
world. petroleum (40% larger than natural gas) and coal
The quantity and cost of this resource, natural gas, (78% larger than natural gas) and creates a lower cost