Santo Domingo.- The head of the Industry and Commerce Ministry’s (MIC) Unconventional Energy Program on Wednesday admitted facing various obstacles in the massive use of natural gas for vehicles, which he affirms kept the plan from materializing as former Leonel Fernandez had announced.
Among the barriers, Salvador Rivas cited a sag in funding agreed with the State-owned Reservas Bank to convert public transport vehicles, the variation in global fuel prices and supply difficulties due to the limited number of service stations. "When the program was launched, the MIC structured a slew of logistics to reach the goals and worked with Reservas in all the funding mechanism, however, to supply all these vehicles the service stations had to exist, then came the change of administration," the official said.
Rivas, quoted by hoy.com.do, said the handover’s proximity led the banks to wait until the new administration took office and that stalled the funding would enable the goals were met as they had planned.
He said the slow to install service stations has been a major constraint, and makes it difficult for motorists easily fill up.
He acknowledged that investors have advanced in the construction of new stations, but noted that it’s a process that takes time.
Rivas said he expects 20 stations to be operating normally by mid-year, from today’s 13 stations, which supply natural gas to around 9,000 officially certified vehicles.
From: United States
i wish i could find my posting in which i predicted this! damn, i'm good!
Written by: RonEvane 
, 24 Jan 2013 11:15 AM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
I'm a gonna to get richer producing Methane from poop, to supply all the many more gas stations that'll be built throughout the island. .... Was reading about Methane Digesters, in the local papers, being built by the chicken and pork producers, to power their own enterprises.
In total, all six Digester are calculated to generate over one Megawatt of electricity.... Ain't too shabby. Right, Dread?
Along with Biodiesel, this is the wave of the future; where garbage and human/animal excrement is recycled into useful energy and fertilizers. Neat, eh?
From: United States
Ron, i like the idea of alternate fuels, just as much as you do. the only problem is that i have never done any cursory study of such fuels, vis a vis the DR, and found them to be economically viable. Jamaica has tried cane ethanol for quite a while now, and has basically given up on it. the numbers do not work. biodiesel is worse. some guys here were babbling on about jatropha a little over a year ago. i came up with my personal study that showed that if we dedicated all the sub arable land, plus several acres of arable land, we would have 5 days supply of biodiesel each year, and a substantial reduction in agricultural production. there is just not enough in the way of economies of scale to make it viable.
Written by: generoso, 24 Jan 2013 11:43 AM
From: Dominican Republic, United States
I was speaking to the owner of a natural gas taxi cab, and he was frustrated about how he was ripped off, with the many promises of more filling stations that never materialized, the long lines waiting to get gas, plus the rising cost of natural gas, that offer little savings now, after many price hikes.
Just like the low interest installment for the first 6 months of car loans, everything in DR turns out to be a con, once you read the small print, and the fat cats unmask their true motives.
From: United States
General, i hate to say 'i told you so', but i must. i posted this result well over a year ago.
Written by: RonEvane , 24 Jan 2013 12:49 PM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Dread, here’s where most people fail in seeing alternatives as economically viable… Most think we need a huge factory/plant churning out billions of gallons of fuel per hour….It doesn’t work that way.
As we all know, many big and small farmers are responsible for most agricultural products being sold/ consumed in our nation. Some are exported, even. I think we’re pretty much self-sufficient when it comes to foods.
When many of these farmers decide to recycle their garbage and excrements, using Digesters, the energy produced is often more than enough to satisfy their own needs and the excess methane, biodiesel and rich fertilizer can be sold on the open market. This is akin to many households ( that can afford it), installing solar panels and wind turbine generators in their homes. They’ll use what they need and the excess can be diverted to the local/national power grid.
Written by: RonEvane , 24 Jan 2013 12:50 PM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
The more diversified the sources, the less mega generators we need, hence less imported fuels and less reliance on power plants.
The nation of Brazil, has pretty much done away with gasoline powered vehicles. Ethanol reigns and the savings in petroleum must be huge. I understand that the of acres planted with sugar cane is enormous, but the important part is that this is a renewable resource, that properly managed, has no finite life, as petroleum does.
We don’t have the necessary land area for such an effort. We’ll have to use, recover, reuse, recycle, and reprocess all that’s at our disposal. The whole point being to economize on imported oil, to safeguard our environment, to lessen the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere, to prosper and liberate ourselves from OPEC, etc.
Written by: RonEvane , 24 Jan 2013 12:53 PM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
We need, or rather, MUST become self-sufficient in fuels locally generated, to power our cars, factories and households. We cannot forever, rely on fossil fuels. It will someday become too scarce/expensive for little republics like ours, to afford us an affluent lifestyle, or even a mediocre one.
I have all the confidence that many small energy generators can be more effective/reliable, than one huge Mega Mother!
From: Dominican Republic, calle A.Portes
Dreadlocks ,hope i am not bursting a bubble but Dominicans say everything but can plan next to nothing ,,,you had the odds right behind you 90 to 10 , by predicting ,non performance ..I
The placing of new pipes and thenreplacing the bitumen on the roads in the upper part of Zona Colonial are a classic example on how a one week job can expand into more than a year
From: United States
Ron, Brazil has weaned itself off imported fossil fuel, not fossil fuel. it has ethanol, but it also has Petrobras.
Written by: RonEvane , 24 Jan 2013 7:53 PM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Brazil has weaned itself off imported fossil fuel, not fossil fuel."
Exactly my point. We must do the same.!.. I understand fully the importance and usefulness of fossil fuels. Such as it is, it has myriad uses and is hard to substitute with any ONE alternative.
The biggest problem is, that precisely because of its ready availability, relative (present) low price, value and significance in world economics, is obviously why we’re addicted to it and likely won’t try to switch to an alternative ‘till it becomes too expensive and hard to find!
By estimating today’s rate of ever-rising oil consumption, and proven reserves, it’s easy to extrapolate how long it’ll last and the dire consequences of a nation without sufficient energy to plow its fields and unable to fuel its trucks. The prospective of doing nothing today is frightening and hellish in the worse kind possible.
Written by: RonEvane , 24 Jan 2013 7:58 PM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Rest in your false security blanket, if you will, and enjoy today, because tomorrow will be a nightmare indeed; unless we can wake up and come to our senses.
Somehow, my faith in Dominicans realizing and becoming proactive in this matter, is doubtful. ...Tragic!
From: United States
Ron, today is already a nightmare. trust me on this one. there is no upward turn on the horizon, at the rate at which we are going. as more and more superfast computers and robots hit the world, there is less and less need for manual effort. jobs are going to be lost at exponential rates. only the highest skilled of people will be useful to the world. the USA has seen economic recovery, but it is a jobless one, because nobody needs certain types of labor anymore. i am willing to bet that even McDonalds and Burger King are working at more advanced mechanization, so, in the future, it will need 6 guys to operate an entire store, instead of 15. the crap has already hit the fan. that is what saddens me about things in the DR, because we are so far behind, that catching up will be next to impossible.
Written by: RonEvane , 25 Jan 2013 9:39 AM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Dread, yesterday, I went to get my daughter at the airport who had flown in from SD. I was very disappointed and a bit hurt to hear her tell me how difficult the overall situation had gotten there. She was surprised to see how much things had changed since she last visited, eight years ago.
Food and fuel prices had risen significantly and the city had grown too much. She was not at all pleased with the environs and said, "it'll be a cold day in hell, before I go back there".
This brings home the essence of what a foreigner might see, feel , and think about our cesspool of a nation. Still, there's a chance for change, and it all has to do with energy.
All forms of alternatives that can take a chunk off imported oil, is money saved that can be better spent on social needs and developing our manufacturing capability.
Job creation and a rising GDP, has everything to do with energy. To have it means prosperity, to lack it means poverty, misery and decay.
Written by: RonEvane , 25 Jan 2013 9:43 AM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Sorry, double post. Don't know how to erase it...Oh, just did..Never mind!
From: United States
Ron, i am all for a guy who has pride in his country, and likes to hear good news. only thing is, in the DR, the good news is a smokescreen. yesterday, my buddy went to pay his cable bill. it has always been 500 pesos, so he smartly whipped out the same amount, and put it on the counter. sorry, says madame cashier. it is now 650! yes, Ron, a 30% hike. seriously. and, all without warning! i can afford it, so i am not going to bawl. what about Belkis from the barrio? that is a lot of money to her. multiply that by all the increases to come, and what is going to become of these poor people? can we live by congratulating ourselves every time someone like TripAdvisor does some idiot survey, telling us that the DR has the number 11 ranked hotel in the Caribbean? so freaking what? can you spend good reports?
Written by: RonEvane , 25 Jan 2013 12:34 PM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Mr. Dread. I'm not in denial of what goes on in DR. I make it a point to be as informed as possible.
I know the sharks are everywhere and would take a chunk off you, if you let them. And it's going to continue to worsen until, either they, (businesses), price themselves out of their respective markets, or the govt steps in and tries to moderate.
I'm betting that we'll eventually see some enterprising people who'll see these abuses as a great opportunity to break the monopoly and underprice the SOBs.!
The many negatives of our DR, can be offset by the many more positives. The biggest and most acrimonious/perplexing problem retarding us today, is the lawlessness in every facet of our lives, and the judicial system that allows such abuses to take place with impunity.
I'm talking about corruption and the sale of justice to the highest bidder... Until, (if ever), such is corrected and given its just prominence, we won't breathe freedom.
From: United States
says RonEvane
vI'm betting that we'll eventually see some enterprising people who'll see these abuses as a great opportunity to break the monopoly and underprice the SOBs
yes, Ron, all very nice in theory. however, in the case of POP, the mayor also owns the cable provider. do you think he is going to give you a license to open a competing operation?
Written by: RonEvane , 26 Jan 2013 11:45 AM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
No, Mr. Dread, likely not. But there must be an alternative to this monopoly. I don't know what it could be, so I'll have to meet up with you personally to try and find a solution to counter this abuse....while we're having a few presidentes. ...and carne frita con tostones.
From: United States
i am looking forward to that day.
Written by: generoso, 26 Jan 2013 1:03 PM
From: Dominican Republic, United States
Ron Evane
i suggest that you open a forum thread, to ventilate the prospects of your "Digester" incentive in the DR.
It could be quite interesting and illuminating.
From: United States
says the General
Written by: generoso, 26 Jan 2013 1:03 PM
From: United States, Quisqueya
Ron Evane
i suggest that you open a forum thread, to ventilate the prospects of your "Digester" incentive in the DR.
It could be quite interesting and illuminating.
it could be, provided it does not get bombarded by 197 pages of copy and paste.....
Written by: RonEvane , 26 Jan 2013 1:29 PM
From: United States, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Friends, please google this: "Copaifera langsdorffii ".
A thread? Thanks for the suggestion. It may prove to be an informative and interesting forum.
But, how's this done? Do you mean here, in DT?
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I'm a gonna to get richer producing Methane from poop, to supply all the many more gas stations that'll be built throughout the island. .... Was reading about Methane Digesters, in the local papers, being built by the chicken and pork producers, to power their own enterprises.
In total, all six Digester are calculated to generate over one Megawatt of electricity.... Ain't too shabby. Right, Dread?
Along with Biodiesel, this is the wave of the future; where garbage and human/animal excrement is recycled into useful energy and fertilizers. Neat, eh?
Just like the low interest installment for the first 6 months of car loans, everything in DR turns out to be a con, once you read the small print, and the fat cats unmask their true motives.
Dread, here’s where most people fail in seeing alternatives as economically viable… Most think we need a huge factory/plant churning out billions of gallons of fuel per hour….It doesn’t work that way.
As we all know, many big and small farmers are responsible for most agricultural products being sold/ consumed in our nation. Some are exported, even. I think we’re pretty much self-sufficient when it comes to foods.
When many of these farmers decide to recycle their garbage and excrements, using Digesters, the energy produced is often more than enough to satisfy their own needs and the excess methane, biodiesel and rich fertilizer can be sold on the open market. This is akin to many households ( that can afford it), installing solar panels and wind turbine generators in their homes. They’ll use what they need and the excess can be diverted to the local/national power grid.
The more diversified the sources, the less mega generators we need, hence less imported fuels and less reliance on power plants.
The nation of Brazil, has pretty much done away with gasoline powered vehicles. Ethanol reigns and the savings in petroleum must be huge. I understand that the of acres planted with sugar cane is enormous, but the important part is that this is a renewable resource, that properly managed, has no finite life, as petroleum does.
We don’t have the necessary land area for such an effort. We’ll have to use, recover, reuse, recycle, and reprocess all that’s at our disposal. The whole point being to economize on imported oil, to safeguard our environment, to lessen the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere, to prosper and liberate ourselves from OPEC, etc.
We need, or rather, MUST become self-sufficient in fuels locally generated, to power our cars, factories and households. We cannot forever, rely on fossil fuels. It will someday become too scarce/expensive for little republics like ours, to afford us an affluent lifestyle, or even a mediocre one.
I have all the confidence that many small energy generators can be more effective/reliable, than one huge Mega Mother!
The placing of new pipes and thenreplacing the bitumen on the roads in the upper part of Zona Colonial are a classic example on how a one week job can expand into more than a year
Brazil has weaned itself off imported fossil fuel, not fossil fuel."
Exactly my point. We must do the same.!.. I understand fully the importance and usefulness of fossil fuels. Such as it is, it has myriad uses and is hard to substitute with any ONE alternative.
The biggest problem is, that precisely because of its ready availability, relative (present) low price, value and significance in world economics, is obviously why we’re addicted to it and likely won’t try to switch to an alternative ‘till it becomes too expensive and hard to find!
By estimating today’s rate of ever-rising oil consumption, and proven reserves, it’s easy to extrapolate how long it’ll last and the dire consequences of a nation without sufficient energy to plow its fields and unable to fuel its trucks. The prospective of doing nothing today is frightening and hellish in the worse kind possible.
Rest in your false security blanket, if you will, and enjoy today, because tomorrow will be a nightmare indeed; unless we can wake up and come to our senses.
Somehow, my faith in Dominicans realizing and becoming proactive in this matter, is doubtful. ...Tragic!
Dread, yesterday, I went to get my daughter at the airport who had flown in from SD. I was very disappointed and a bit hurt to hear her tell me how difficult the overall situation had gotten there. She was surprised to see how much things had changed since she last visited, eight years ago.
Food and fuel prices had risen significantly and the city had grown too much. She was not at all pleased with the environs and said, "it'll be a cold day in hell, before I go back there".
This brings home the essence of what a foreigner might see, feel , and think about our cesspool of a nation. Still, there's a chance for change, and it all has to do with energy.
All forms of alternatives that can take a chunk off imported oil, is money saved that can be better spent on social needs and developing our manufacturing capability.
Job creation and a rising GDP, has everything to do with energy. To have it means prosperity, to lack it means poverty, misery and decay.
Sorry, double post. Don't know how to erase it...Oh, just did..Never mind!
Mr. Dread. I'm not in denial of what goes on in DR. I make it a point to be as informed as possible.
I know the sharks are everywhere and would take a chunk off you, if you let them. And it's going to continue to worsen until, either they, (businesses), price themselves out of their respective markets, or the govt steps in and tries to moderate.
I'm betting that we'll eventually see some enterprising people who'll see these abuses as a great opportunity to break the monopoly and underprice the SOBs.!
The many negatives of our DR, can be offset by the many more positives. The biggest and most acrimonious/perplexing problem retarding us today, is the lawlessness in every facet of our lives, and the judicial system that allows such abuses to take place with impunity.
I'm talking about corruption and the sale of justice to the highest bidder... Until, (if ever), such is corrected and given its just prominence, we won't breathe freedom.
vI'm betting that we'll eventually see some enterprising people who'll see these abuses as a great opportunity to break the monopoly and underprice the SOBs
yes, Ron, all very nice in theory. however, in the case of POP, the mayor also owns the cable provider. do you think he is going to give you a license to open a competing operation?
No, Mr. Dread, likely not. But there must be an alternative to this monopoly. I don't know what it could be, so I'll have to meet up with you personally to try and find a solution to counter this abuse....while we're having a few presidentes. ...and carne frita con tostones.
i suggest that you open a forum thread, to ventilate the prospects of your "Digester" incentive in the DR.
It could be quite interesting and illuminating.
Written by: generoso, 26 Jan 2013 1:03 PM
From: United States, Quisqueya
Ron Evane
i suggest that you open a forum thread, to ventilate the prospects of your "Digester" incentive in the DR.
It could be quite interesting and illuminating.
it could be, provided it does not get bombarded by 197 pages of copy and paste.....
Friends, please google this: "Copaifera langsdorffii ".
A thread? Thanks for the suggestion. It may prove to be an informative and interesting forum.
But, how's this done? Do you mean here, in DT?