Autori
Luzzati, Tommaso
Di Pascoli, Stefano
Femia, Aldo

Titolo
Natural gas, cars, and the environment. A (relatively) 'Clean' and cheap fuel looking for users.
Periodico
Università degli studi di Pisa. Dipartimento di Scienze economiche. Studi e Ricerche
Anno: 2000 - Fascicolo: 62 - Pagina iniziale: 1

This paper deals with the spread of natural gas as a fuel for motor vehicles. Working on the basis of an input-oriented view of environmental issues, it is easy to show that natural gas is relatively cleaner. In comparison to other fonts of energy used for motor vehicles it offers advantages both as regards quality of emissions and quantity of virgin material activated. At the same time natural gas, because of its technical characteristics, is very suitable for motor use, Moreover, it is a cheap fuel! Contrary to what might be expected, Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) do not experience a rapid and widespread diffusion, This is particularly puzzling in Italy, as, after taxes, the relative price of natural gas (in caloric equivalents) against gasoline is about 0.3 and against diesel fuel about 0.4 , The sample survey we conducted confirms not only practical drawbacks of NGVs, mainly the lack of a sufficient refuelling network, but also a profound lack of information and knowledge of NGVs characteristics. A general hint is that economic incentives alone need not to be sufficient. An environmental policy aimed to promote "more sustainable" individual choices (NGVs, in this case) needs both to consider the institutional framework, and to promote the initial spreading of an appropriate knowledge and consciousness able to prime an endogenous adoption of "greener" behaviours.




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