A factory-fresh Honda sedan will be a rolling laboratory for Florida State University researchers studying the use of compressed natural gas as an alternative to gasoline.
Kirby Kemper, FSU vice president for research, led an unveiling ceremony Monday afternoon at FSU’s High Performance Materials Institute, where faculty, students and community leaders got a chance to check out the 2012 Honda Civic that runs solely on CNG.
“We still have to diversify our fuel mix. I am not here to tell you that this is the right way or that’s the right way or whatever, because you need a whole host of types of vehicles,” Kemper told the gathering.
Besides saving money on fuel expenses — CNG costs about half of what a comparable quantity of gasoline does — FSU can follow the lead of Leon County Schools and the city of Tallahassee, which operate CNG vehicles and are developing a refueling center with Tallahassee-based company Nopetro.
“This to me is a celebration of us beginning to move forward right here in Tallahassee,” Kemper said.
The Civic was built at the factory to run on CNG and is equipped with the cleanest internal combustion engine ever certified by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to American Honda Motor Co. As a fuel, natural gas produces 30 to 40 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions and up to 90 percent fewer smog-producing pollutants when burned.
“This car shows how research is translated into application to our daily needs and the addition of this new CNG vehicle is just the beginning. We are in the process of converting more of our vehicles to alternative fuels,” said Elizabeth Swiman, director of campus sustainability at FSU.?
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