Earth Equity News

Interest in Natural Gas for Vehicles Wanes in Europe. By Andrés Cala, NYTimes, October 21, 2009. "Developing countries around the world are increasingly turning to natural gas as their alternative transportation fuel of choice. But early official embrace of the technology in industrialized nations has mostly cooled, because risks inherent in mass deployment outweigh the benefits, especially in regard to climate change. After a decade of double-digit annual growth, according to several estimates, more than 10 million vehicles worldwide are now powered by methane derived from natural gas or organic waste. Official support, especially in Asia, South America and gas-producing countries, is likely to drive the number to at least 50 million by 2020... Yet, in industrialized countries, the retreat of oil prices from the heights of last year has been paralleled by a loss of interest in natural gas as an alternative transport fuel. In Europe, where some governments promoted the use of natural gas in public transport fleets when oil prices were rising, a mass shift in that direction now seems less likely. One reason is that although natural gas burns more cleanly than oil, it is increasingly seen as not burning cleanly enough."