The recent bus explosion in Korea has sparked a number of concerns recently.
In the past I paid little attention to the fuels used for vehicles, until last year we bought a car that runs on LPG (liquified petrolium gas) which is a mixture of gases like butane and propane. It produces less smokey emissions though it's debatable as to how much CO it lets out. A plus is that it burns more cleanly than other fuels and is non-toxic and non-corrosive... and, let's face it ~ this matters, has a MUCH lower tax rate so it is considerably cheaper.
Something that also caught my attention after learning of different fuel sources was that most city busses in Seoul run on CNG (compressed natural gas). Korea's government uses catch phrases like, "low carbon, green growth" quite often, and I had been impressed with their determination to use other fuel sources as well as to lessen the emissions.
HOWEVER~ I recently discovered that Korean buses used existing fuel tanks on the bottom of the bus when converted to CNG. As we know gas rises, but the government didn't want to spend the money reconstructing buses, and therefore knew the risk they were putting the people in ahead of time!
I wonder how much they're facing in law suits and other losses now...
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