[combat_boots]

The elephant in the room is distribution, for whatever fuel is used.

I think Denmark has a hydrogen system ramping up or some such.’H2’ http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/blog2/index.php/hydrogen-fuel-distribution/denmark-opens-h2-fueling-station-links-germany-and-scandinavia/

A city in Italy (Venice?) is doing something for the whole city with hydrogen.http://oddtag.com/2010/07/12/the-worlds-first-hydrogen-run-power-plant-fusina-venice-italy/

Frankly, I’d have bought one of the Honda LNG cars that were tested. The technology itself is exciting. So are hybrids and fuel cells. Or making gasoline from grass, like what AFRL can do.

[meatloaf]

If you have a natural gas distribution system in your area, it’s already in place. Just install a NG filling station and pipe it up. You can set one by the air compressor in many convenience stores that sell gasoline.

[PA Engineer]

The elephant in the room is distribution, for whatever fuel is used.

Agreed, but in the Northeast not so much. Here we will be looking at serious transmission issues with the Marcellus wells. These are monster producers. The standard vertical wells (traditional non-shale) tend to be tied into the distribution system. I don't see this as an ongoing solution for the shale wells. They have been doing vertical shale drilling locally and are producing an average production rate of 300 - 500 Mcf per day. The horizontal wells have had far greater outputs.

The problem is going to be gathering and transmission. FERC has earned a reputation for being one of our major hurdles to energy independence because of their slow and heavy handed regulatory aproach to pipeline construction. We have the natural gas in Western PA to supply the country if we can just get rid of the government and luddite environmentalists. This is just one shale layer. There are more (not just Marcellus) and distributed over a far greater area.

Frankly, I’d have bought one of the Honda LNG cars that were tested. The technology itself is exciting.

I think this is where the US needs to go. We have ample natural gas to take a NG and Gasoline hybrid approach to our energy needs. There are kits on the internet for about $3.5K that modify existing vehicles to a dual fuel, switch on the fly as necessary. One of the nice things about NG is it does not require refining and then distribution. NG can go strait to distribution with minimal processing. Home fill stations are available, but tend to be a bit pricey and require rebuilds after a couple years. This is something that should be left to the gas distribution companies as just another supplied and serviced appliance.

Service station retrofits will take time, but I see no resource or technical limitation to adopting NG as the nations primary source of transportation fuel over imported oil within the next decade. The problem is our government. Period. They are not just holding up oil production, they have and are in the process of throttling NG growth. Grassroots will have their work cut out for them to overcome this.

There are viable, seamless and economic alternatives to our energy problems right now here today. First we have to get rid of all the "hope and change" if we have any hope of getting out of this mess.

[RaceBannon]

one of my co-workers has a hydrogen engine with his truck, he went from 12 MPG to 20 immediately, I am looking into making one myself!

The initial investment is under $250 and it runs on water!

So, I wonder how it will run on Hydrogen peroxide??