Granite State Clean Cities Coalition

DURHAM - You may have heard of cars that run on electricity, propane or natural gas, but how about hydrogen or vegetable oil?

A 1980 Volkswagen Dasher adapted to run on recycled restaurant grease was just one of several innovative automobiles on display as the University of New Hampshire hosted a ceremony designating New Hampshire as a Clean Cities state for its commitment to promoting the use of alternative fuels in coming years.

Medical studies show that carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels like oil and gasoline threaten the health of children, the elderly and others suffering from respiratory illnesses like asthma. In New Hampshire, most air pollution comes from motor vehicle emissions.

The VW "Bio Car" came from Moultonboro Academy, where an honors biology class learned how to convert vegetable oil waste into "biodiesel" fuel. The 10 honors students will travel to Washington, D.C., this week to attend the Future Car Congress Student Challenge.

Ford Motor Company also showed off a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, in which hydrogen and oxygen are chemically combined to produce electricity to run the engine.

UNH was chosen to host Friday's ceremony because Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., recently secured more than $1 million to fund a new compressed natural gas, or CNG, filling station to serve buses in the Wildcat Transit fleet. A portion of that money will be used to convert the buses to burn CNG.

"The University of New Hampshire has one of the largest fleets in the state," said retiring UNH president Joan Leitzel.

The natural gas station will open in 2003, and UNH is just one of about 40 businesses, nonprofit and government agencies that signed a "memorandum of understanding" in support of alternative-fuel vehicles.

Locally, the city of Portsmouth joined the Pease Development Authority and COAST, the Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation, to operate four propane-fueled trolleys throughout the city.

"We've already jumped into the alternative fuel market," said John Burke, the city's parking and transportation engineer.

New Hampshire is the last New England state to achieve either statewide or local Clean Cities status under the U.S. Department of Energy. Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont are Clean Cities states, while cities in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey also have signed on.

"We've kind of been the missing link," said Kenneth Colburn, who formerly worked for the state Department of Environmental Services and now serves as executive director of the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management.

The Clean Cities designation allows organizations to apply for federal grant money to support alternative-energy projects.

Portsmouth has applied for a grant from the state DES to fund a pilot program for electric vehicles to be used by the city's parking meter repair technicians and Hanover/High Parking Garage attendants.

"I think you'll be seeing some in the next few months," Burke said.

Pure-electric vehicles require recharging and can go only so far from the power source. Hybrid vehicles, however, like the 50-mile-per-gallon Honda Civic hybrid that was on display Friday, run on gasoline but recapture the energy lost in braking to recharge their huge batteries and cut fuel use.

Honda also displayed the Civic GX, which runs on natural gas. U.S. Department of Energy staff members drove to Durham from Washington in a natural-gas-powered Civic, as Clean Cities has worked to install natural gas filling stations along the I-95 corridor.

Another Clean Cities participant, Regal Limousine Service of North Hampton, has applied for a $98,000 grant to convert 10 Ford Crown Victoria sedans into CNG-burning vehicles. Regal uses the cars to transport people to and from Boston's Logan Airport, which has a natural gas filling station. Eventually, said company spokesman R. Lyndon Burnham Jr., Regal may install its own CNG station or collaborate with other fuel users for a local stop.

"I'd rather not have to drive to UNH every time to refuel a car," he said.

"One day, you'll be able to stop anywhere, at your convenience, to fill the alternative-fuel vehicle of your choice with clean, domestically produced fuel," said Thomas Gross of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the federal energy department.

Gross said the United States produces 9 percent of the world's energy each year, while consuming 26 percent. The U.S. spends $2 billion each year to import that energy, Gross said, and much of it comes from nations such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia.