Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 13, 1993 TAG: 9306140090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
The federal mandates are "hanging over their heads, and everybody is looking around to try to figure out how to meet them," said Mardi John, a physics professor who has organized a round table to discuss and test gasoline alternatives in the region.
By 1998, fleets of more than 10 vehicles operating in congested areas of the country must begin buying "clean fuel" cars and trucks. Amendments to the Clean Air Act set out a schedule for buying more of these vehicles over several years.
And the Energy Policy Act passed by Congress last year requires fleets of more than 20 vehicles to begin adding alternative-fueled cars and trucks as soon as this year.
Localities have begun a scattershot approach to finding appropriate alternatives, John said. In the past, advocates of one particular technology got an official's ear and sold products without adequate testing or consideration, she said.
"They need to cooperate and work together so that we don't waste tax money on solutions that don't work," she said.
John, of George Mason University, invited governments, other schools and private industry to meet monthly with an eventual goal of buying and testing alternative vehicles.
The group began meeting in January and could begin work with one or more electric buses this fall, John said. Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington counties and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church are participating.
Police cruisers, pickup trucks and other vehicles converted to run on natural gas already are on the road in Northern Virginia as part of pilot programs run by local governments and the state Department of Transportation.
But the numbers of such vehicles are too small to fully judge one technology against another, John said.
Police in Arlington report their natural-gas cruisers are working well, although they have slower acceleration than a gasoline engine.
Halfway through an 18-month test of natural-gas trucks, the Transportation Department has found no major problems, said spokeswoman Joan Morris.
"We've got pretty good acceptance among operators," said Paul Schott, Alexandria's director of general services and a consortium participant. Alexandria is testing nine vehicles that run on compressed natural gas. "They do take pride in the fact that their vehicles do not emit as many fumes."
Options include compressed and liquefied natural gas, methane, propane, electricity and solar power. All have disadvantages, including expense and inconvenience, but are less polluting than gasoline.
Alternatives to gasoline have been tested for decades, but cheap, plentiful gasoline has lessened demand for other options, energy experts said.
"There has not been much market penetration of alternative-fuel vehicles, unfortunately," said Eli Bergman, executive director of Americans for Energy Independence, a Washington public interest group. "The bottom line is yes, there will be more of them as a result of the legislation, but there will not be any significant market penetration between now and 2010."
John agrees. "It's going to be at least two decades before they are really out there, and that gives us some time," she said.
One or two of the several alternative technologies will likely emerge as the best solution, and the gasoline engine gradually will be replaced, she predicted.
If successful, the Consortium on Alternative Energy and Transportation will pool money from local governments, the federal government and the private sector to run a variety of tests over the next several years, she said.
But Schott cautioned that there is only so much any cooperative arrangement can do. Much of the nuts-and-bolts experimentation must be done by the people who will drive and fix the new vehicles, he said.
"They have to be reassured that these things are not going to explode on them or that they'll run out of gas," Schott said.
by CNB