Cng Vs Lng

Zacks Investment Ideas Feature Highlights: Westport Innovations, Clean Energy ...

What Are the Investment Opportunities?

The good news is that we are in a global megatrend for energy that rewards those investors with their fingers on the pulse of oil and gas companies creating earnings momentum. Following Zacks #1 and #2 Rank stocks here for the past two years has been a winning strategy that capitalized on the strong earnings recovery of many E&P and integrated names.

The bad news is that because of our nation's dependence on imported oil from unstable areas of the world, and because a gallon gasoline is a consumer-killer -- not to mention the omni-present environmental concerns -- it is in every American investor's best interest for us to find long-term alternative solutions.

My focus since October has been on the opportunity that could kill two birds, namely, the Natural Gas Act legislation that would provide significant tax and investment incentives to convert America's trucking fleets to run on natural gas engines. Why is this such a big deal?

Because we have an incredible abundance of domestic natural gas. And because it is extraordinarily cheap. And because it has such an extremely low environmental impact compared to oil and gasoline production processes and emissions. Need I go on?

So I looked at lots of trades in natural gas E&P firms, and I also looked at the companies involved in building the engines, conversion kits, and other infrastructure necessary to use compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in trucks and cars safely and efficiently:

Westport Innovations (Nasdaq: WPRT ): specializes in building natural gas engines and has joint venture with Cummins (CMI)

Clean Energy Fuels (Nasdaq: CLNE ): leading provider of CNG and LNG products for transportation

Fuel Systems Solutions (Nasdaq: FSYS ): manufactures products and systems that allow on-highway and off-highway engines to operate on clean burning, gaseous fuels such as propane and natural gas

Political Tipping Point

The problem with investing in these early growth stage companies on the verge of a potentially explosive industry is that it seems everything hinges on Congress "doing the right thing." I put that in quotes because there is a big difference of opinion about what "the right thing" is in seemed like the archetypal, honest, plain-spoken, patriot who just wanted what was best for his country.

But there is another economic angle on this besides the vested interests of political lobbyists on either side. Last month, four Republican lawmakers who had been co-sponsors of the bill that Pickens helped engineer withdrew their support on mostly philosophical grounds. In other words, it's not just crude oil vs. nat gas. It's free market vs. more subsidies and potentially higher taxes for some, if not all.

Compressed natural gas vs LNG « Forum OJT/Magang PT ARUN LNG

CNG cars available in Europe are bi-fuel vehicles burning one fuel at a time. Their engine is a standard gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE). This means that they can indifferently run on either gasoline from a gasoline tank or CNG from a separate cylinder in the trunk. The driver can select what fuel to burn by simply flipping a switch on the dashboard.

Several manufacturers (Fiat, Opel(General Motors), Peugeot, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda and others) sell bi-fuel cars. In 2006, Fiat introduced the Siena Tetrafuel in the Brazilian market, equipped with a 1.4L FIRE engine that runs on E100, E25 (Standard Brazilian Gasoline), Gasoline and CNG.

Any existing gasoline vehicle can be converted to a bi-fuel (gasoline/CNG) vehicle. Authorized shops can do the retrofitting, this involves installing a CNG cylinder in the trunk, installing the plumbing, installing a CNG injection system and the electronics.

Due to the absence of any lead or benzene content in CNG, the lead fouling of spark plugs is eliminated. CNG-powered vehicles have lower maintenance costs when compared with other fuel-powered vehicles. CNG fuel systems are sealed, which prevents any spill or evaporation losses. Another practical advantage observed is the increased life of lubricating oils, as CNG does not contaminate and dilute the crankcase oil. CNG mixes easily and evenly in air being a gaseous fuel. CNG is less likely to auto-ignite on hot surfaces, since it has a high auto-ignition temperature (540 °C) and a narrow range (5%-15%) of flammability. . [CNG is essentially methane, i.e. CH4 with a calorific value of 900 Kj/mol. This burns with Oxygen to produce 1 mol of CO2 and 2 mol of H2O. By comparison, petrol can be regarded as essentially Benzene or similar, C6H6 with a calorific value of about 3,300 Kj/mol and this burns to produce 6 mol of CO2 and 3 mol of H2O. From this it can be seen that per mol of CO2 produced, CNG releases over 1.6 times as much energy as that released from petrol (or for the same amount of energy, CNG produces nearly 40% less CO2).] The corresponding figures are 78 and 25.8 grams respectively, for nitrogen oxides. Carbon monoxide emissions are reduced even further. Due to lower carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions, switching to CNG can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions .

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