Public Natural Gas Pumping Station Has Ribbon Cutting Ceremony(posted July 11) A July 3 ribbon cutting ceremony officially marked Indianapolis' third public natural gas pumping station. A $1.51 pump price makes it self explanatory as to why Kyler Bros decided to add a natural gas pumping station to its heating ventilation and air condition business. It was nothing but a cost savings decision for the Kyler Bros to venture into this side of the business. The company recently opened its new facility at 4355 Lafayette Boulevard to be more centrally located to serve its customers. The company was located in Clayton but the soaring gas prices were taking a bite out from the bottom line to fill the service trucks. During the design phase, Vice-President Kris Kyler approached Kellie Walsh from the Central Indiana Clean Cities Alliance about the possibility of building a natural gas station as a cost savings factor to operate his fleet of vehicles. Walsh was instrumental with obtaining an existing Department of Energy grant dedicated to the Indianapolis International Airport natural gas station to be transferred to Kyler Bros. She said it was no longer a high priority for the airport to move the idling natural gas station to another site because of the on-going Midfield Terminal construction. Kyler Brothers received $200,000 in grant money from both the federal and state level. "Part of the condition of the grant required public accessibility to the pump," Kyler said. "I am still testing the waters," Kyler admitted about making a total commitment to all natural gas. These types of commodities are very reactionary to market forces. His trucks operate on gasoline and natural gas. He said he went with natural gas because the 2007 diesel emission reductions drove vehicle prices up by about $7,000. A natural gas conversion is about $10,000 to $12,000, but the government provides tax incentives to use natural gas. It can be as much as 50 cents per gallon rebate. Part of the vehicle's conversion cost is the ability to receive the compressed gas. The gas pump is at 4,000 pounds of pressure per square inch and it is being injected into a vehicle that stores it at 3,600 pounds of psi. Kyler Bros have about 20,000 cubic feet stored in two sheds on site. According to Kurt Kyler, the storage units were salvaged from the old Daimler Chrysler Foundry that stored natural gas to operate the fork lifts. Citizen Gas CEO Carey Lykens, Brandon Seitz of the Indiana Energy Department and Stephe Yborra of Washington DC based Natural Gas Vehicles for America were among the guests at the ribbon cutting ceremony Lykens noted that Citizen Gas is walking the talk with its 117 natural gas vehicles in service. Lykens explained the natural gas reduces the America's carbon foot print with emissions and ozone that are causing climate changes. He noted that natural gas engines have shown over a 90 percent reduction in carbon monoxide and particulate matter and 50 percent in nitrogen oxides. "Here is somebody (Kyler) do something about climate," he said. Citizen Gas operates the other two public stations at Raymond and Meridian and 21st Street and Martin Luther King. Walsh credited Kyler Bros for purchasing Citizens Gas retiring fleet to keep more natural gas vehicles on the road. Joyce Harding, driver for Summer Song Ice Cream, attested to the environmental benefits. "There are no fumes," she said, adding the gas fumes were not pleasant for little kids to be around when buying ice cream. Lykens also highlighted that 98 percent of natural gas is domestically produced which is further reducing America's dependency on foreign oil. Jeff Brown of Citizen Gas noted that Citizen Gas recently added to its supplies by receiving natural gas from Heartland Gas Pipeline out of Canada, but the two primary natural gas distributors are Panhandle Eastern and Texas Gas Transmission. Yborra said there are a little less than 100,000 vehicles that operate on natural gas. He said natural gas vehicles have been around since the 1930s. "They were the cars with the big bladder bags," he said. He said that Honda Civic makes a natural gas vehicle but Chrysler, Ford and GM got out of the business because they did not sell their quotas. He noted that entrepreneurs took over the market by installing natural gas systems in vehicles. Seitz noted the state acts a liaison between the DOE and the private sector in need of grant money for alternative fuels. He said the state has been focused on E-85 as well as natural gas. In 2005, the state had zero E-85 gas stations and now it has 90 stations. Kris Kyler quipped, "The west side is becoming an alternative fuel mecca because the Meijer down street is selling E-85." Ryan Brown of the state energy department noted he is working on tax rebates for homeowners to invest in geothermal heat, small wind systems, and solar hot water. He expects the program to be available by September. He said the renewable rebate program is a request from the DOE to promote technology that is competitive with fossil fuels. He also noted that local communities could increase energy efficiencies by including them in the building standards. Kelly Kyler said not many homeowners know they can receive a permanent property tax exemption by installing a geo-thermal system. He said the exemption has been available since 1981, but when energy prices tumbled in the late 1990s everybody seemed to forget about energy efficiencies. |
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