HOUSTON, Texas, July 16, 2012 (ENS) - The Obama Administration is investing $30 million to find new ways of expanding the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel.
In Houston on Thursday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman announced 13 new natural gas research projects that will share the $30 million.
The projects are funded under a new Department of Energy program, Methane Opportunities for Vehicular Energy, or MOVE. Overall, they aim to engineer lightweight, affordable natural gas tanks for vehicles and develop natural gas compressors that can efficiently fuel a natural gas vehicle at home.
"These innovative projects will leverage the ingenuity of U.S. scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to develop breakthrough technologies to fuel cars with natural gas, said Poneman.
The United States has abundant supplies of natural gas and U.S. shale gas production has more than tripled since 2008.
Commercial fleet operators nationwide have begun to transition long-haul trucks and other commercial vehicles to run on compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. The advances achieved under this latest set of research and development awards are intended to help expand the use of natural gas vehicles, so that drivers nationwide can benefit.
Said Poneman, "These projects could transform America's energy infrastructure and economy by utilizing domestic energy sources to power our vehicles, reducing our reliance on imported oil, and increasing American energy security."
