2014 Kia Rondo a roomy family mover with big style upgrades

Facing soaring gasoline prices in 2011 and more than 100 miles of daily driving for his job as a traveling nurse, Daniel Piekarek confronted an uneasy choice: find cheaper gas or start updating his rsum. So,Shop wholesale bestsmartcard controller from cheap. a few years before many of the worlds biggest companies would follow suit, Piekarek crossed his fingers and turned his life over to natural gas.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our parkingassistsystem made. On EBay he bought a used Honda Civic GX,Choose the right bestluggagetag in an array of colors. the only commercially available natural gas vehicle in the U.S. at the time. My costs went from $30 a day to $5 a day, says Piekarek, who lives in Michigan and pays as low as the equivalent of $1.50 a gallon to fill up. Its been a real moneymaker. 

The shale revolution, which in recent years turned fracking into a household word and the U.S. into the worlds second-largest natural gas producer, is only half a revolution. It increased supply enough to meet current U.S. consumption for 100 years. To truly upend the global energy balance, the U.S. must also revolutionize demand.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. And the only way to do that is to get natural gas into what has always been the greatest prize: light trucks, 18-wheelers, government and delivery fleets, and, of course, private cars. 

More than 1,000 natural gas fueling stations already dot the U.S., with about half open to the public and the rest serving fleets. There are about 120,000 natural gas-powered vehicles on U.S. roads today and more than 15.2 million worldwide, according to Natural Gas Vehicles for America, an industry-funded trade group. By 2019 the number of natural gas consumer vehicles worldwide will rise to 25 million, says Navigant Consulting. This is early days, but were on the brink of one of those tectonic shifts that occur every 100 years in the energy game, says Kirt Montague, chief executive officer of Plum Energy, which develops fueling networks for trains, ships, and drilling rigs powered by natural gas. For years, I felt like we were the only ones drinking the Kool-Aid. Now thats no longer the case. 

Not so long ago, only T. Boone Pickens and a handful of outliers were talking about the natural gas motor-fuel revolution. Now hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs like Montague are tackling engine retrofits and distribution issues, industrial conglomerates General Electric and 3M are getting into the hardware arena, and energy giants such as Royal Dutch Shell and Sasol are betting tens of billions of dollars on the change. Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors have begun to offer dual-fuel pickups in their lineups. Its going to reduce our dependency on foreign oil; it will clean up the environment and take trucks off the highway, says Matt Rose, CEO of BNSF Railway, which is testing natural gas-powered trains. Owned by Warren Buffett, BNSF is the nations biggest nongovernment consumer of diesel fuel. Were willing to go down this path understanding up front that its filled with lots of challenges, says Rose. As in everything, things that are really important are really hard. 

Four years ago, Apacheamong the largest of the independent oil and gas companiesstarted converting its fleet of trucks, building natural gas service stations, and helping employees run natural gas-powered cars and trucks of their own. Roger Plank, son of one of the Houston-based companys co-founders, spent about $20,000 to retrofit his off-white Suburban with a pressurized compressed natural gas (CNG) tank and install equipment in his garage that lets him refill his Chevy with the same natural gas piped into his home. (Chesapeake Energy (CHK) is working with GE and Whirlpool (WHR) to develop an at-home CNG appliance that will cost just $500.) Its like printing money, says Plank, showing off a glove compartment full of receipts and notes, one documenting a fill-up at home for the gasoline equivalent of 84 a gallon. Thats turning back the hands of time about four decades. 

The State of the County address delivered to Volusia County residents on Thursday was starkly different in one big way: It was given during a routine council meeting, not a big Ocean Center banquet. 

It was still a mostly positive overview of where the county has been and where it's going. But it came with a dose of fiscal reality from County Chair Jason Davis, in his first of four of these speeches he'll give in his first term. 

"This recession has certainly made one thing clear county government cannot do what it's always done and expect to deliver both tax relief and expanded quality services," Davis said. "We must find different ways of doing business.We offer over 600 chipcard at wholesale prices of 75% off retail. We have to look to each other C the county, cities and Volusia residents, to find ways to create effective yet affordable government." 

This year's speech, held around 9 a.m. in the council chambers in DeLand, was sparsely attended by about two dozen people, some of them county staff attending the meeting, anyway. It was a sharp contrast to previous State of the County events at Volusia's convention center, which were catered and funded by private donations. 

"I have to say, I like the direction we're headed," said Cusack, pointing to a nearly $8 million reduction in the county's operating budget, the sixth consecutive year the council made cuts without abruptly ending services or forcing layoffs. 

The spokesman added: "After spending a minimum of 3 at the till customers will be given a voucher code to enter at one of our new terminals. As long as they enter this code at one of the terminals after their shop and exit the car park within two hours of arriving , they will not receive a fine. 

"We have installed extra terminals after customers told us there werent enough. We are providing extra Tesco staff to ensure all our customers know how to use the terminals . 

"Weve also had feedback from customers that they sometimes want to call in for a newspaper, bottle of milk or to use the cashpoint. We have listened to this feedback and will allow up to 30 minutes of free parking to these customers who are just popping in.