America, Start Your Natural-Gas Engines

As many of you may know, the road to energy independence may be right underneath of us in the form of natural gas.  We have all heard about the explosive growth in the Dakota's with shale gas deposits but how do you actually put it to use?

As this WSJ article points out it is going to take a reinvention of the car, pump, fuel, and driver in order for Americans to end our addiction to oil and more specially foreign oil.

• Every day, we consume 70% of our oil getting from place to place—and produce more than 30% of our greenhouse gases along the way. If we could run our vehicles on natural gas, it could kill two birds with one stone: Not only is natural gas a lot cheaper than oil right now, but its emissions are much cleaner than gasoline or diesel.
• The big issue with building natural-gas vehicles is the fuel tank. Gasoline and natural-gas engines are relatively similar. But natural gas must be stored under high pressure—so the tanks must be stronger, heavier and larger. And that drives up the price
• The big barrier to setting up stations on a broad scale is cost. The average cost for building a gasoline station and convenience store in the U.S. was about $2.3 million in 2010, according to data compiled by the National Association of Convenience Stores. Adding the compressor and storage tanks needed for a CNG station can drive up the price by as much as $500,000—assuming the station can even hook into a natural-gas distribution pipeline. That's a big investment when few people are filling up their tanks with natural gas.