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Published on December 19, 2007

Many knowledgeable people are disturbed about this and have backed away from discussions about the country's energy problems. They have turned to teaching at universities and keep their comments to themselves.

In the case of electricity-generating plants, even though the general election is less than a week away, no candidates have spoken about the electricity shortages that are expected in the near future. No political party has gathered the courage to tell the people how and where we are going to get electric power in the future.

Whenever there is news that a coal-fired power station is to be built somewhere, there will always be protests, and the same applies to dams. The local people would rather die than relocate and let a dam be built.

Nuclear power plants have become another option, but once again, anyone who raises the subject will fall under the lash.

Plants that run on natural gas are also strongly opposed. People seem to forget that when the gas line from the Thai border to Ratchaburi was laid there was a lot of protesting. People said it would damage the ecosystem, but if there were no signs today telling us where the pipeline was, I am sure no one would notice that under the green environment there is a gas line that is many hundreds of kilometres long.

The same things happen in the debate about energy for automobiles. Whenever anyone says that compressed natural gas (CNG) is good and safe and is an alternative with a more stable price than other types of fuel, they are accused of being in the pay of PTT.

In the case of gasohol, its supporters are accused of being in the pay of ethanol-producers.

The accusers have no idea how stingy both PTT and ethanol-producers are with such payments.

Ethanol-producers usually smile and keep quiet as long as they're selling ethanol, but when they can't, they shout at the government and demand state help and the banning of petrol. They never pay supporters of gasohol fund gasohol campaigns.

This week I have questions from khun s32_sombatporn, tantawan, ung_ang and lovediesel that are quite similar:

These days the price of petrol is very high, and a lot of motorists with petrol-powered vehicles have turned to gasohol, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or CNG. But what can those with diesel vehicles do to lower expenses?

First of all, diesel engines can run on ethanol, which is available in biodiesel, or B5 fuel, and the engines do not need any modification at all.

And if petrol engines can run on LPG and CNG, then diesel engines can, too, and the modification cost is no different to that for petrol engines.

But with diesel engines, there are two choices. The first is for large trucks, which can be modified to run on 100-per-cent natural gas. There are two methods: the first is to use the old engine by modifying the cylinder head and fuel system, and the second is to install a new engine designed to run on natural gas.

In the case of small diesel engines, such as those in pickups, there is limited space on the cylinder head, so spark plugs cannot be installed. The DDF (Diesel Dual Fuel) system is one alternative.

It combines conventional diesel fuel with CNG and injects the mixture into the combustion chambers, where it is ignited by lots of compression, in the same way that fuel is ignited in a normal diesel engine. This may not result in much money-saving, so it has not become popular.

Whatever you may do to trim your fuel expenses, it is expected that normal petrol and diesel engines will remain the major power units for Thailand's automobiles for at least another 10 years.

 E-mail your motoring questions to Pattanadesh@nationgroup.com.

By Pattanadesh Asasappakij

The Nation

Ultimate in Luxury

The Luxury LS 460 is a wonderfully comfaortable car fitted with all mod cons, althoough not necessarily the most fun vehicle to drive.