Final Word
final word | by Tom Jackson
The HHP 2012 Summit
The start of something big
T
he last week of September some
700 people got together for a
three-day conference in Houston,
Texas, that may have marked the
beginning of a new era.
Billed as the Natural Gas for HIgh
Horsepower Applications Summit 2012, the
inaugural event brought together engine
manufacturers, gas and pipeline companies, oil and gas drillers, the makers of
gas storage infrastructure and OEMs in
the construction, marine, mining, and rail
industries.
Why all the interest? Diesel is over $4 a
gallon, but, thanks to vast areas of shale
gas that are opening up across the country,
liquefied natural gas (LNG) is selling at
the diesel gallon equivalent of about $1.50
a gallon. And that $2+ price difference
is raising a lot of eyebrows. Experts say
natural gas could replace anywhere from
25 to 40 percent of the diesel used today.
Natural gas engines are more expensive,
and the storage and transportation of this
fuel is more complex than handling diesel. This adds to the cost, but the cost will
decrease over time as the industry builds
more engines, infrastructure and pipelines. Where pipelines don’t reach, the
gas companies are promising “pipelines
on wheels.”
The early adopters will be big fuel users
– the mining, rail and marine industries,
and on-highway haul trucks. Natural gas
powered off-road construction equipment,
will come later, said Paul Blomerus, senior
director of the high horsepower division
at Westport, the natural gas engine developer based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Because of construction equipment’s duty
cycle and idle times, fuel use per machine
is not as high relative to the other applications, he says.
“It’s not a technology gap,” Blomerus
said. “It’s just an economic gap.” As the
natural gas engine market matures, it will
70 November 2012 | EquipmentWorld.com
drive down the cost, and as the cost of
diesel continues to rise relative to natural
gas, you will start to see the construction
side make better economic sense, he says.
Even if the yellow iron is last in line to
fill up with natural gas, the companies that
use heavy equipment are benefitting from
the dirt work and road building required
for these drilling pads. In all the construction industry statistics we’re seeing, the oil
and gas category is a bright spot. Expect
Experts predict
that to continue.
Another plus: natural gas is domestically natural gas
produced, which helps keep American dol- could replace
lars at home. And last but not least: natural anywhere from
gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel avail25 to 40 percent
able. It’s so clean, in fact that the Environmental Defense Fund recently came out in of the diesel
used today.
favor of fracking, the drilling technology
that unlocks all this underground gas.
So it’s good for the economy, good for
the environment and good for the construction industry. What more could you
ask for?
Organizers of the event say they will
convene another summit next year. For
more information go to hhpsummit.com.
To see our full series of articles on the
summit go to equipmentworld.com and type Pipelines on wheels.
Until the infrastructure is
“hhp summit” into the search box. EW
built, the natural gas industry will supply many
commercial customers
using mobile fuel stations like this one from
Encana Natural Gas.