By Joe O’Brien, Source North America Corporation
With so much media coverage focusing on flex fuel vehicles (FFVs) and their potential environmental benefits, it’s easy to lose sight of the advantages that petroleum-based fuels bring to U.S. consumers. The reality is, that although there’s a lot of buzz about alternative fuels, gasoline and diesel will remain the market leaders for some time to come. Here are three key reasons why:
1. Gasoline and diesel deliver the highest energy density.
A fuel’s energy density represents the amount of energy contained in the fuel, and comparing the energy density of different fuels, is one way to quantify their overall value. For example, in ExxonMobil’s Outlook for Energy: A Vision to 2040, the energy company compares the energy available in one wooden log to other common sources of energy. As a matter of perspective, one gallon of gasoline, which produces 24,500 BTU, equals the energy of five logs or 13,000 AA batteries.
Both the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the Alternative Fuels Data Center compare the energy densities of several transportation fuels on their websites. While some alternative fuels have higher energy content per unit of weight (CNG for example), gasoline and diesel trump the energy available in all other fuels when it comes to energy content per unit of volume:
Energy Density Per Unit of Volume, Ranked From Highest to Lowest
1. Diesel
2. Gasoline
3. Liquefied Natural Gas
4. Ethanol
5. Compressed Natural Gas
6. Compressed Hydrogen Gas
7. Batteries
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
To further gauge the energy available in various fuels, check out the Alternative Fuels Data Center – Fuel Properties Comparison, which compares the energy value for the Gasoline Gallon Equivalents (GGE) for 10 different fuel types. For example, one gallon of E85 has 73% to 83% of the energy of one gallon of gasoline (the range is due to the variation of ethanol percentage in E85).
Simply put, energy-dense fuels can take you further, particularly when compared with ethanols, a point that helps the value of gasoline and diesel resonate with consumers.
2. Vehicles are growing increasingly efficient.
Fuel economy has come a long way in the past 40 years. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the adjusted fuel economy of cars and trucks was less than 14 MPG in 1975; in 2010 it was over 22 MPG. And due to Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations that require automakers to meet a specific fuel economy average across their entire fleet, fuel economies will continue to improve as automakers build lighter cars and deploy “micro-hybrid” technology.
3. Gasoline prices have declined and diesel is in demand.
Not only is the U.S. consuming less gasoline because of our more efficient transportation technologies, we are becoming more self-sufficient in supplying our own fuel demands. Innovations in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have enabled the U.S. to harvest more of its own oil, which has contributed to a global surplus of oil inventories. This excess drives down the price of crude oil, which in turn, leads to lower prices at the pump. Consumers are less inclined to pursue FFVs and other alternative fuel vehicles when they’re not feeling the pinch of fuel costs in their pocketbooks.
In addition, recent data from IHS Automotive shows that demand for clean diesel cars and SUVs increased 13.5 percent in 2014 over the previous year, and demand for domestic light-duty diesel vehicles is expected to triple its market share by 2030. And although some analysts are projecting that domestic demand for diesel will peak this year as CNG-powered heavy-duty vehicles off-set overall diesel consumption, global demand for diesel is projected to increase in the next 15 years as emerging economies utilize energy-rich diesel to build the infrastructure they need to become more industrialized.
Not only do gasoline and diesel deliver the performance that consumers expect, but there is already an existing infrastructure available to conveniently distribute them (unlike for alternative fuels). Without a significant national consensus to spend federal funds and jumpstart the creation of a particular alternative fuel distribution network, the free market forces we rely upon will drive us toward gasoline and diesel as our fuels of choice. And though we may all look hopefully for a sustainable renewable clean energy, in reality, it’s going to be the dependability of energy-rich petroleum that will continue to dominate the U.S. retail fueling industry for the next decade.
Joe O’Brien is Vice President of Marketing at Source™ North America Corporation. He has more than 20 years experience in the petroleum equipment fuel industry. Contact him at [email protected].
