VOA标准英语2013--Companies Try Natural Gas to Fuel Vehicles

 

Companies Try Natural Gas to Fuel Vehicles

HOUSTON, TEXAS — While many Americans want to reduce both pollution and energy costs, the nation's automobile-based transportation system undermines these goals by being largely dependent on petroleum¹.

But in the western state of Oklahoma, Ethel Clayton drives a truck that can run on much cheaper and cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG).

"Not just because you save a whole lot of money, but it is also good for the environment and it also keeps your engine in better condition," Clayton said.

Thanks to support from local natural gas producing companies, there are plenty of CNG filling sites around Oklahoma, and Clayton says online guides also show places to refuel when traveling out of state.

"They will actually route your destination where there will be CNG filling stations," she said. "So it is getting better."

The dramatic increase in U.S. natural gas production has made the fuel cheaper and driven projects that would use this resource to replace far dirtier fossil fuels. Companies are experimenting with various ways to use natural gas as a transportation fuel.

Still, some experts remain wary². The American Petroleum Institute's chief economist³ says CNG cannot be viable⁴ as a transportation fuel without a nationwide expansion of infrastructure⁵.

"The problem is that, for example, if you look at the 170,000 service stations around the country, they are owned by small businessmen, who simply don't have the money... say, $200,000... to set up a natural gas fueling opportunity," said John Felmy.

The use of liquid natural gas, or LNG, would provide great savings⁶ for long-haul trucking companies, but the up-front expense is discouraging, according to Felmy.

"The typical heavy-duty truck running on LNG will typically cost something on the order of $80,000 more,” he said.

But what if you could make a cleaner burning liquid fuel directly from natural gas that would work in normal vehicles and be supplied through already existing infrastructure?

That's the goal of companies like New Jersey-based Primus Green Energy, which has successfully tested its fuel and is now building a plant to produce it for commercial sale.

“The key to having alternative fuels be accepted, both on a financial basis and an economic basis as well as by consumers, is to have them not change their behavior at all,” said George Boyajian, the company's president of business development.

Boyajian says there is no need to alter engines and drastically change current fuel systems to bring this fuel into widespread use. And, because the catalyst⁷ used in the process eliminates pollutants⁸ like sulphur and benzene, he says it is far cleaner.

“The tier-three standards that the EPA has put out for transportation fuels going forward, the Primus gasoline already surpasses those standards,” Boyajian said.

Although natural gas is the best feedstock now, Boyajian says synthetic⁹ gas produced from biofuels also could be used.

It could take more than a decade for such fuels to significantly reduce the use of petroleum for transportation, but each small step brings that future closer. 

1 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

2 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

3 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

4 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

7 catalyst   

n.催化剂，造成变化的人或事

参考例句：

• A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction.催化剂是一种能加速化学反应的物质。
• The workers'demand for better conditions was a catalyst for social change.工人们要求改善工作条件促进了社会变革。

8 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。