Awareness: A drag on CNG use

Awareness: A drag on CNG use
Deccan Herald

Pollution still elicits extreme, if predictable, public reactions. In the Bangalore context, the burgeoning vehicular traffic and environmental pollution are invariably discussed the way bad roads, land prices or administrative apathy are. However, not many are clued up on the alternatives at hand.

When Deccan Herald did a random check on public awareness with regard to cleaner automotive fuel, nine out of 15 respondents said they were not aware of natural gas being used in motor vehicles. Four of them had never heard of CNG.

Bangalore’s LPG experiment with autorickshaws has managed to increase public awareness on alternative automotive fuel (AF). But the misinformation is hard to miss. Manav, a law student, believes domestic LPG – packaged in “small cylinders” – is used in autorickshaws. For Sridhar, a bank employee, some of the City’s Volvo buses are already running on CNG.


Global positives

While Bangaloreans are largely unaware of how CNG could enhance the ambient air quality, the examples of other countries -- and New Delhi --offer many positives.

The concept of natural gas as AF is nothing new. As early as in 1930s, countries like the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Italy and Canada were making the fuel switch.

In Asia, countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia started to take seriously CNG’s prospects in the automobile sector only in the 1980s.

In Delhi, it was Indraprastha Gas Ltd — a joint venture of the Gas Authority of India Ltd and the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd — that started setting up CNG filling stations.

As per an Energy and Resources Institute study on CNG and ultra-low-sulphur diesel distribution in Mumbai’s transport sector, use of both CNG and ULSD could bring down particulate matter emission by around 34% in 2010.

India’s metropolitan cities have for long been feeling the heat of the surge in vehicular population, with air quality being the main casualty.

While the numbers reflect the success of the CNG example, the lack of supply and awareness of the benefits has curtailed its potential so far.

The answer is out there. All it takes is the will to keep asking.

MORE PROS THAN CONS

The advantages of a switch to CNG clearly outnumber its disadvantages.

However, the drive towards clean automotive fuel means bracing to deal with the flaws as well. Studies reveal that the power output of CNG-run vehicles is less compared with those run on petrol engines. Conversion costs, faster wearing of exhaust valve and the weight of CNG cylinders could also compound the problems.