C.N.G. cheapest alternative fuel — report

Press, 4 March 1982, Page 13

C.N.G. cheapest alternative fuel — report

Wellington reporter

Compressed natural gas will be the cheapest of six diesel alternative fuels becoming available to the motorist in the next decade according to a publication “Alternative Fuels for Diesel Engines,” put out by the Ministry of Energy. In mid-1981 the relative’ retail prices in 1981 dollars per litre were expected to be: Diesel, 44.2 c ($12.3 a gigajoule, a gigajoule being about the amount of energy in a tank of petrol in a small car); petrol 61c (SIS.9 Z 'GJ); compressed natural gas, 33c per cubic metre ($8.5/GJ); liquefied petroleum gas, 36.6 c ($15.2/GJ); methanol, 20c ($12.7/GJ);,ethanol, 50c ($24/ GJ), plus distribution costs and taxes; and vegetable oil, 60c to 80c ($l7 to $23/GJ), plus distribution costs and taxes. In each case, road-user, charges would be additional although -a petrol refund of;. 9.1 c a litre would be payable where road-user taxes were being paid. Increasing difficulty of supply of diesel was expected to increase the price of diesel, but supplies of petrol would ease. C.N.C. would be secure in supply and stable in price. L.P.G. would remain more costly than C.N.G. because of its energy density and Liquigas policy. The price of methanol would drop if no export market was available. Supply was assured from a variety of sources, but distribution facilities had yet to be established. ,-v ■ Ethanol was not expected to compete successfully against methanol, and vegetable oil was not expected to have widespread use.. , Costs for bulk purchases of C.N.G. and L.P.G. would

probably be significantly lower than retail prices. Supply of C.N.G.. to the South Island was’ extremely unlikely because of high costs. i‘; The 54-p'age techincal publication 1 : looks at New Zealand fuel .'. development- programmes and lists the groups researching in the field, their addresses, and achievements.