What company(ies) will be able to retrofit gas stations to serve alternative energies?

Posted by admin on Sep 4th

I have a feeling that as alternative energy becomes a bigger deal, existing gasoline stations will be retrofitted with solar panels, capacitor and battery banks, natural gas tanks, and hydrogen fuels. This is a much more efficient alternative to building brand new fueling stations. What companies are prepared to do the retrofitting?
Well, what I foresee in the immediate future is a lot of competing technologies in the alternative sector. This can already be seen with California giving grants to Pearson Fuels to create E85 stations, India giving contracts for Hythane fueling stations, etc. I would also say that installing solar panels at actual fueling stations will likely occur to some extent, because it will be more profitable to produce the electricity privately (rather than purchase it).

While I’m not here to decide which energy is going to win out (as that will likely take 15 years), you can’t deny that there is a lot of competition with bio fuels, electric hybrids, and hydrogen prototypes. And most likely a working hydrogen model would be based on a solid fuel that produces hydrogen gas with a catalyst (especially for safety reasons).

Some of the companies I’m looking at are Jacobs Engineering (JEC), Foster Wheeler (FWLT), and ABB.

Filed Under: Water for Gas FAQ
Tagged: able, Alternative, companyies, energies, retrofit, serve, Stations

One Response to “What company(ies) will be able to retrofit gas stations to serve alternative energies?”

Sep 4th at 12:53 am By: nylon

The move to alternative fuels is ultimately going to be dictated by the free market. As such, the goal of this move would be to avoid retrofitting. In the immediate future (next decade) You’re going to see plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt which will charge overnight in your garage giving you a small (40-50 mile) electric range for around town. You will also see an increase in the efficiency of production of biofuels. For me to clean waste vegetable oil brew biodiesel in my garage is cost effective, because it was originally refuse which I collected for free. This is not the case with the ethanol or biodiesel you can now get at the gas station. Currently the ethanol you see in the United States is total bs, it takes almost as much energy to produce it as it yields. However, there are many promising venues for efficient production of biofuels in the works. Cellulose ethanol, sugar cane ethanol, biodiesel made from algae (and hopefully ones we don’t yet know about!) will gradually replace petroleum fuels.

These being the two most promising means to a move to alternative energies in automobiles, you’re going to see two types of retrofitting. The first is that the underground tanks at gas stations will be replaced. This is standard procedure for when fuel becomes contaminated or is switched from gas to diesel or vice-versa. Or at least this is the law in Florida. My father used to own gas stations, and apparently he was put through that hell once. Invest in companies that do that. I can’t tell you their names, but I’m sure you can find out fairly easily.

The second type of retrofitting you’ll see is that once there are enough electric or electric/gas hybrids (like the volt, not like the prius) on the road there will be incentive for fast charging stations alongside the gas pumps. These will be incredibly cheap to install, basically some ultra high voltage outlets (though I can’t tell you exactly what components are necessary for that). However, an influx of electric cars will require a wholesale upgrade of the electric grid. The government is going to have to step in to do this because there is no profit motive for the electric companies to pay money to make their product more accessible and thus cheaper. If the government is smart (which it’s not) they’ll go ahead and make it a smart grid (too much for me to explain here, look it up). Invest in companies that work on these technologies, contractors that build the grid and suppliers that make components.

This being said, there are two problems with your vision of the future. Natural gas and hydrogen are literally gasses. This means that they would have to be condensed into liquids or solids for them to be feasible fuels. Though natural gas can and has been used in internal combustion engines, it has required a large tank to be towed behind the car on a trailer. Hydrogen is the same thing, except it has to be created thus making the net energy value less favorable. Solar panels are best placed in solar power farms, not in the fueling station themselves.

Remember, when picturing the future of energy think simply. What’s the easiest way to do things? Try and avoid grandiose 1950s era GM motorama visions. How can things change while looking as similar as they can to today?