Reporting on the business and technologies
driving today's global industrial gas industry

The Art of Selling
Passion ... One Day at a Time!
By Art Waskey
2008.12
We all know organizations that employ individuals with outstanding sales skills. I remember one specific rep that had superior sales skills, but lacked passion, desire and commitment for his position. His record of closing significant new business was envied; yet he never became part of the "team." He remained indifferent to his surroundings.

How do you define passion in a career? Life-long experiences teach that success and inner peace come from intense desire and attractions in four specific areas:

Vocation and Career: After 36 years of marriage to my beloved Sandy, what is critical to me is time spent together, the nurturing of our relationship, and enjoyment of each other. Are you constantly making personal investments in time and effort for continual career improvement? Is your career a source of daily satisfaction?

Avocation: While vocation is a long-term commitment; avocation is a temptress; the euphoria of romance. A healthy avocation involves creative energy (this is exciting!) and personal emotional growth (I can't believe I accomplished this!). The challenge with avocation is maintaining the delicate balance of excitement and proper rest.

Family/Friends: Relationships provide the warmth and sunshine that make our world "blossom." Healthy relationships allow us to mature and become socially well-adjusted, interactive individuals. Unhealthy relationships can foster withdrawal and anti-social behavior. To maintain a healthy relationship in a marriage, for example, each partner must be willing to give without reservation, to give more than is expected in return.

Spiritual/Psychological: In the Apostle Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth, he writes, "God is a Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God" (2 Corinthians 1:4,5). Whether the influence is spiritual or psychological, the desire for emotional growth is critical. Life's afflictions provide the greatest opportunity for growth; daily trials provide countless opportunities to impact and influence others on an ongoing basis.

Reflecting on the talented individual in my opening paragraph, his business career has spanned several jobs, but his spirit continues to "wander aimlessly" as he walks through life. Even in the later years of his career, he remains unable to make or uphold commitments, to anything OR anyone.

Great sales skills are NOT enough to insure success; life requires commitment to personal growth and concern for others. When was the last morning you woke up and couldn't wait to get started? Do you embrace your daily challenges and opportunities with passion? Remember, this day will only occur ONCE in your lifetime! Spend it wisely!

Art Waskey is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for General Air Services and Supply Company in Denver, Colorado, and author of "The Art of Sales in One Month," and "The Art of Sales in a Second Month." He can be reached via e-mail at awaskey@generalair.com.

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Energy Initiatives
CNG - A Bridge to Alternative Fuels
By Christine E. Turley
2008.12
When US oil and gasoline prices began fluctuating erratically in recent months, the effect on the automobile and transportation industries was notable. Auto sales dropped precipitously. Driving habits and patterns across the country shifted; rates of public transportation and car pool usage jumped, while the hours and miles driven by the population in general stalled. Almost overnight (and certainly awakened by the much publicized US presidential campaign), the search for viable alternative fuels to keep the world mobile and to free the country of foreign fuel dependence, intensified. Discussions surrounding hydrogen, ethanol and biogas were frequently joined by the terms natural gas (NG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). Although around for many years and used throughout the world as a transportation fuel for commercial fleets, natural gas in its various forms suddenly fell into the spotlight as the potential replacement for gasoline.

Hydrogen, ethanol and biogas are frequently discussed as alternative fuels. Yet their integration into societies has been slow at best, and in the case of ethanol, fraught with tangential problems such as corn shortages and skyrocketing food prices in some regions. Ongoing research and development on these fuels is necessary before they can realistically replace gasoline. In the meantime, to begin lessening our dependence on foreign fossil fuels, attention has turned to CNG, which is already used as a transportation fuel in specific industries in the US and widely outside the US. Some believe that with natural gas fuels, we could have an alternative fuel network up and running in the US within a very short time.

Natural gas is a logical substitute for gasoline, in part because it has some similar characteristics. Gasoline is a liquid by-product of crude oil and is extracted from oil as it is refined. CNG is often found in oil-rich areas, but it exists naturally in a gaseous, not liquid, form. NG is also found in places where oil is not present. The US has a much greater supply of natural gas than it does of oil, making it an attractive option to replace foreign fuels.


Natural gas vehicles (NGV) are more environmentally friendly than gasoline-powered vehicles. CNG consists mainly of methane and other hydrocarbons, which are released when NG is burned. Both methane and hydrocarbons contribute to the greenhouse effect, but NG does not give off CO₂, which is considered by many to be the more significant contributor to global warming. The US Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that driving a CNG-powered vehicle versus a gasoline-powered one would “reduce carbon monoxide emissions 90–97 percent, reduce carbon dioxide emissions 25 percent, reduce nitrogen oxide emissions 35–60 percent, and potentially reduce non-methane hydrocarbon emissions 50–75 percent.” The EPA recently named the Honda Civic GX, which uses CNG, “the cleanest internal-combustion vehicle on Earth.”


CNG has its ardent supporters, the most outspoken perhaps being famed oilman T. Boone Pickens. Pickens has spent millions of dollars to promote what he calls “The Pickens Plan” (see www.thepickensplan.com). Pickens predicts that if the US continues to use and buy foreign oil at the rate it has been doing over the last 30 or so years, the cost to the US over the next 10 years will be $10 trillion, or as he puts it, “The greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind.”

Part of the Picken's Plan pushes for the use of natural gas, especially CNG, to supply transportation fuel for the country. CNG is a fuel that can be moved easily within the US, does not need to be converted into another form as long as it is piped, and has an existing infrastructure in the form of pipelines and fueling stations in those areas of the country where natural gas is extracted. Since natural gas is currently plentiful in some areas of the US and Canada, it makes sense as an alternative to gasoline.

Like other energy alternatives, however, CNG’s use and viability comes with its own set of challenges. The current lack of availability of CNG-equipped cars makes purchasing one difficult. The cars themselves have far less storage room compared to gasoline-powered cars because the CNG is stored in cylinders usually placed in the trunk of the car. CNG vehicles must be refueled more often than gasoline cars and that is problematic as CNG refueling stations are scarce. These problems can be mitigated through further R&D on the automakers’ side. In fact, there already exists the means to convert a gasoline-engine car to a CNG car, and there are devices that a homeowner can use to fill his or her car from home, using the NG supplied via pipeline to the house. But these short-term problems won’t solve the larger problem of supply, both in location and sustainability.

The biggest drawbacks to converting our fuel source to natural gas are resource location and sustainability. CNG is relatively inexpensive when it can be drilled and piped to its location without much intervention. This supply exists in the western and midsections of the country, where the price of NG is cheaper than gasoline; it is even subsidized in the state of Utah. CNG is less expensive than LNG because it is not cooled to a liquid form and so does not need cryogenics for storage. The East Coast supply of CNG, however, is imported from foreign countries. It must be converted into LNG for shipping, then converted back to CNG for automobile use, a costly process that makes CNG economically unattractive as a transportation fuel. Attempts to use natural gas in its liquid form for automobiles have proven unsuccessful as the weight of the liquid reduces the car’s power and efficiency. LNG, however, can and is used efficiently in trucks, which are larger and can handle the additional weight.

In the quest for alternative forms of energy, there are “renewables,” like ethanol and biomass, and “non-renewables,” like natural gas. Critics argue that the US should not support the development of any fuel that will land us in the same situation that we are in today – vying for the dwindling supply of a finite resource and struggling to find a replacement. However, with characteristics like pipelines, fueling stations, cars and trucks that already run on NG products, and NG resources at home, many see natural gas as the bridge to the holy grail of transportation fuel alternatives — hydrogen.

The biggest roadblocks to a hydrogen economy are the costs of building a complete infrastructure for its production and distribution, and the current cost of producing hydrogen. Natural gas may be the key to solving both of those problems. Before hydrogen can replace gasoline, a network of pipelines to transport hydrogen throughout the country to fueling stations equipped to convert the H₂ liquid into gaseous form, and fill the cylinders on H₂ cars and trucks, must exist. Additionally, we have to bring the cost of H₂ production down. Presently, most H₂ in the US is generated from steam reforming of natural gas and the cost of doing so is more expensive than even the highest gasoline prices of the last few months.


The infrastructure built and the experiences garnered from developing natural gas as an alternative fuel provide a valuable launching pad for hydrogen and are crucial for accelerating the sustainable use of alternative fuels. Natural Gas Vehicles for America (www.ngva.com) succinctly sums up the role of natural gas as follows:

• Natural gas is the leading feedstock for hydrogen production in the US today.


• The first fueling stations along California’s hydrogen highway will likely produce hydrogen on-site by reforming pipeline natural gas.


• Some of these will be advanced “energy stations” that use hydrogen from natural gas to power fuel cell vehicles, generate electricity for buildings, and produce usable hot water (“tri-generation”).


• Technologies and products developed for natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and natural gas stations over many years are now “jumpstarting” fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen stations.


• Many “lessons learned” for NGVs and natural gas directly apply to fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen.


• Most investments already made in NGVs and natural gas fueling stations (capital, institutional, educational, organizational, etc.) are directly or indirectly applicable to America’s emerging hydrogen fueling system.
 
• Natural gas is a key feedstock for hydrogen production.


Natural gas is a finite source, but it can be seen as a necessary, readily available bridge to the alternative fuel economy. According to NGVA, the Department of Energy “has adopted a goal to reduce the cost of hydrogen produced from natural gas by 25 percent within a decade.” By that time, it is hoped that the R&D ongoing in hydrogen, wind power, solar power, nuclear power and landfill methane extraction will have created other viable options to replace natural gas as a fuel source.

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