Filling up for the future

By Mark Hansel

Monday, Nov. 13, 2006 | 7:34 a.m.

The pumps with the peculiar nozzles and large white tanks behind them tell you this is not just another gas station.

Yet this refueling station behind the Clark County Library at Cheyenne and Buffalo is where most of the city of Las Vegas' vehicles fill up - though, significantly, not with gasoline.

It takes 1,500 vehicles to do all the driving, digging and dumping for the city, and 87 percent of them - from passenger cars to front-end loaders - now use some type of alternative fuel. They get that fuel from the tanks at the City's Department of Fleet Services on Ronemus Drive.

Dan Hyde, the city's transportation manager, has spearheaded a nationally recognized program that transformed the city's gasoline-powered vehicles into a fleet that runs on hydrogen, vegetable oil and other alternative fuels.

And while Hyde realizes that a small percentage of his vehicles probably will always run on gasoline, he would like to see that number become increasingly smaller.

"We need to do this for the environment but also to minimize our dependence on foreign oil," he said.

Hyde notes that the United States currently spends $200 billion annually on imported oil and imports 60 percent of the oil it uses. That's 20 percent more than was imported during the Arab oil embargo of 1973.

Although Hyde recognizes that modifying his fleet's fuel consumption methods alone will not put a dent in that situation, he stresses that the impact of the city's program goes far beyond the amount and types of fuels used.

"By allowing auto manufacturers to test new technology in our fleet, they see how alternative-fuel vehicles perform in actual highway and city driving," Hyde said. "Those conditions can't be duplicated on a test track."

The ultimate goal, Hyde said, is to demonstrate that alternative fuels are practical for everyday use and affordable for the general public.

Some alternative fuels are closer to the latter goal than others.

The city's fleet includes two Honda FCXs that cost more than $1 million each. They are among only a handful of hydrogen-fueled cars being tested by the company in practical application.

The FCX's fuel cell generates electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen from the air, creating a reaction that releases electricity and produces water vapor, the car's only emission.

The cars fill up at a hydrogen fueling station, the first of its kind when it was built in 2002, at the Ronemus Road facility.

Under normal circumstances, the city could not justify the cars' cost or the fueling station's $11 million price tag. Honda, however, leases the two vehicles to the city for about $14,000 per year, and the federal government and private investors paid for the fueling station.

While the Honda's $1 million cost makes it impractical for wide usage, Hyde points out that five years ago, hydrogen cars cost about $5 million. With increased production, the cars could eventually get down to about $50,000, which might make them a feasible option for some environmentally conscious drivers.

Dennis Ransel of the Clark County Department of Air Quality and Environmental Management points out that alternative fuels could become less of an option and more of a necessity if the valley's population growth continues.

The Clean Air Act establishes standards to limit the amount of pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, in the air. Vehicle emissions are the major source of carbon monoxide pollution in the valley.

Sanctions for cities that fail to meet government standards include fines and the potential loss of federal funding.

Despite the city's efforts through its 13-year-old alternative fuel program, the increased number of vehicles coming into and through the region make compliance with the federal regulations a constant challenge, Ransel said.

Locally, the city of Las Vegas - which this year received an award from the Innovation Groups, a networking organization for local governments - is not alone in recognizing the role that alternative fuels can play in meeting that challenge.

The Clark County School District, the Regional Transportation Commission and the Las Vegas Water District are among several area agencies that also use alternative-fuel vehicles. Among private companies, Yellow-Checker-Star Transportation uses propane in its 550 valley taxis.

Other alternative fuels include natural gas, electricity and biodiesel, which is a mixture of diesel fuel and vegetable oil. Some vehicles are hybrids that use more than one type of fuel, such as gasoline and electricity, or hydrogen and natural gas.

The city's fleet includes vehicles that use all of those fuels as well.

"We're a community that faces air quality challenges, and we're demonstrating a willingness to use new technology and fuels to address them," said City Manager Doug Selby.

Despite the current price gap between conventional gasoline cars and those that use alternative fuels, several factors eventually could help make the latter cost-effective.

Alternative fuels generally burn cleaner than gasoline, producing less wear on the engine and parts. And as gasoline prices rise, alternative fuels also become more attractive.

The cost of a gallon of biodiesel fuel already is almost the same as a gallon of gas, Hyde said.

Within 10 years, the industry could be completely self-sustaining, he said.

One other practical drawback with alternative fuels, though, is the limited number of refueling facilities. The two local hydrogen cars, for instance, get about 150 miles to a tankful and can be refueled only at the city's garage, although a second site is set to open soon at the Water District.

The city would like to develop a regional connecting corridor for hydrogen refueling with Arizona, California and New Mexico, but that idea is at least a few years away from becoming reality.

Biodiesel is more accessible, but you still can't pull into the corner gas station and say, "Fill 'er up" - and not only because full-service stations are a disappearing breed.

"Not yet, anyway," Hyde said.