pineinthegrass wrote: The thing that concerns me about NG is that it's heavily used for home heating and the price just goes up and up.
If we use it in large amounts for autos as well, wouldn't the prices go even higher?
Supply and demand would predict such a scenario. I'm not sure that natural gas is actively being explored for by major companies. Oil is far more profitable for companies, so the only production of NG by the large companies is in association with depletion of oil fields. Furthermore, flaring gas (burning it at the rig) is still being done.
pineinthegrass wrote: The thing that concerns me about NG is that it's heavily used for home heating and the price just goes up and up.
If we use it in large amounts for autos as well, wouldn't the prices go even higher?
Supply and demand would predict such a scenario. I'm not sure that natural gas is actively being explored for by major companies. Oil is far more profitable for companies, so the only production of NG by the large companies is in association with depletion of oil fields. Furthermore, flaring gas (burning it at the rig) is still being done.
Yep, if NG is used in large amounts for autos, demand goes way up. Unless supply is increased, price goes up.
With NG home heating (which I've always had), demand goes up with population, and price goes up. Looks like we haven't increased supply to keep price steady or reduce it. So I'm not clear why/how supply would increase beyond demand if we increase demand even more if a huge number of autos convert to NG.
Right now NG makes sense for autos in limited situations. Large business/government fleets or individual owners who take the initiative to spend the extra initial dollars and accept the current inconvenience to use it.
But if a significant percentage of all autos convert to NG, I'm very concerned the cost of home heating with NG gets way too expensive.
Your concerns are very valid. Currently we use propane for heat and hot water because our solar never got installed (company went bankrupt but kept our 8 grand). I think solar heat can have a huge impact here in Colorado. What is needed is lower costs for solar panels and a better incentives for going green.
