Natural gas, cars and the environment. A (relatively) 'clean' and cheap fuel looking for users

This paper deals with the spread of natural gas as a fuel for motor vehicle s. Working on the basis of an input-oriented (and life cycle) approach to e nvironmental issues, it is easy to show that natural gas is often relativel y clean in comparison to all the other alternatives. Although natural gas i s both cheap and very well suited to motoring uses, natural gas vehicles (N GVs) have not achieved widespread diffusion. This is particularly puzzling in Italy, as the relative price after taxes (in caloric equivalents) of nat ural gas is about 0.3 against gasoline and 0.4 against diesel fuel. The sam ple survey conducted confirms not only the practical drawbacks of NGVs - ma inly the lack of an adequate refueling network - but also a profound lack o f information and knowledge about NGVs characteristics. The overall indicat ion for future policy is that economic incentives alone may not be sufficie nt. An environmental policy aimed at promoting 'more sustainable' individua l choices (NGVs, in this case) must both consider the institutional framewo rk, and promote the initial spread of appropriate understanding and awarene ss able to prime the endogenous adoption of 'greener' behaviors. (C) 2001 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.