Piedmont-based PSNC Energy will begin selling compressed natural gas at two locations in Raleigh with plans for a third in Gastonia. State regulators approved the $1.70-per-gallon price tag. That's about half the cost of gasoline. But you'd have to have a vehicle that uses CNG or to have converted your vehicle to be able to use it. PSNC spokeswoman Angie Townsend says they've had a handful of CNG customers since the early 90's but interest is growing.
Angie Townsend: "When gas prices got really high at the pump several years ago, we started getting calls about compressed natural gas. Did we sell it? If we didn't sell it, where can somebody get it? Where can somebody go buy a CNG car. We had a little flurry of interest."
Compressed natural gas burns cleaner than gasoline. The DC based non-profit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranked the CNG burning Honda Civic GX as the greenest vehicle of 2011 ahead of all electric and hybrid cars.