Lured by the red digital sign touting fuel for $1.75, motorists appeared at Camden's first new filling station in years, anxious to fill their tanks.
One driver early Wednesday morning wondered "what the deal was" at the shiny new station in the city's Morgan Village section. He drove away, disappointed to learn that it's compressed natural gas, or CNG, being offered at the dirt-cheap price and not gasoline that averages roughly double the cost nationwide.
The Clean N' Green Fuel station here on the grounds of the Waste Management of New Jersey facility is the first of its kind in Camden County open to the public. The natural gas system there also fuels more than a dozen trash collection trucks operated by the company.
A fully automated station, the Fairview Street location is one of only a handful of places where area eco-friendly drivers can fuel up. John Morris, area vice president for Waste Management of New Jersey, said similar setups are more commonly found in the western part of the country.
Here, fewer vehicles are powered by CNG.
"You can drive through (the Camden station) 24 hours, but a driver is going to swipe their card and get as far as the nozzle before figuring out there's no way to fuel the car," Morris said of potential motorist confusion.
Clean N' Fuel operates largely the same way any gasoline station does, according to Steve Tolton, CEO of PetroCard. His company provides fuel management services for companies nationwide.
A driver pulls up, swipes a credit or fueling card and hooks a specialized fuel coupling device to the vehicle. The compressed gas is transferred at 3,600 pounds per square inch -- all without an employee providing the service.
"New Jersey rules apply only to gasoline, as the state has explained to us," Tolton said. "As a result, we can provide fuel to the customers without having an attendant."
The short-term goal for Waste Management is to phase more energy-efficient vehicles into its fleet by the end of the summer.
"We'll have half the fleet converted from diesel to natural gas," Morris said. "That's about 45 trucks that will be out on the road, every day, running on CNG."
At total of 90 diesel trash collection trucks will be replaced by the green vehicles by 2012 in an attempt to reduce fleet emissions by 15 percent.
The new trucks average about $300,000 each, about $30,000 more than a new diesel rig. Waste Management had to retrofit its facility for 90 CNG fueling slots, including the installation of a 6-inch gas main and the public filling station.
The initial outlay of $2.5 million now will ultimately result in long-term savings, officials said.
"It's the difference between a gallon of diesel and a gallon equivalent of CNG," Morris said. "CNG prices are more stable and we're expecting that to be the case in the future."
Officials claim CNG reduces particulate emissions by 94 percent, carbon monoxide emissions by 75 percent, nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 49 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent.
"We're actually cleaner; you can't even smell it," said Waste Management Area Fleet Manager Jim Pryor.
"With the diesel truck, you can smell and see the black smoke. CNG burns a lot cleaner and the trucks are a lot quieter. Residents should be happy with them."
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, there are just under 890 CNG fueling points nationwide, but not all of them are open to the public like the one in Camden.
Consumer vehicles, like the Honda Civic GX, cost more than their gasoline counterparts. Owners have the option to install fueling stations in their homes, instead of trying to find local retailers.
An estimated 100,000 vehicles in the United States are powered by CNG, and about 11.2 million worldwide. The large proportion of those driven here are used by private and public entities such as municipalities, universities, cab services and other businesses relying heavily on vehicles.
Temple University's Facilities Management Department is in the process of converting its fleet to natural gas. Twenty-two vehicles of about 70 in the fleet -- two of which are full-sized transit buses for students -- operate on CNG.
"We have transit buses, we have light-duty vans, pickup trucks and cars," Superintendent of Service Operations Mark Gottlieb said. "We're looking to reduce the carbon footprint and be a good neighbor in Philadelphia. One of the ways to do this is to go to fuel alternatives."
Reach Lucas K. Murray at (856) 486-2476 or lkmurray@gannett.com
