LOCK HAVEN -- Students at Lock Haven University in Clinton County are getting around on a trolley powered by a fuel of a different kind. Compressed natural gas or CNG is making the wheels on the trolley go round.
Students at Lock Haven have been riding the trolley since the start of the fall semester to and from class with few noticing anything different.
But there is something different when it comes to what goes into the fuel tank: compressed natural gas or CNG.
"I had no idea, honestly."
Sophomore Gregory Segarra says the CNG trolley should help the environment compared to the trolleys that run on diesel fuel.
"Anything we can use to help create alternative sources, that way we'll have other options in the future as fossil fuels are running at dangerously low levels," Segarra said.
LHU's trolleys that burn diesel fuel are loud compared to the newer trolley that makes little sound as it travels around campus picking up students at one place dropping them off at the next.
"CNG is a much greener fuel, of course, much cleaner and one of the issues we were having with our trolleys because they're diesel are emissions issues," said Keith Roush of Lock Haven University.
University officials say they pay less for CNG and get about the same amount of miles per gallon as diesel but the drawback is a shorter range per tank. That means driver Ken Pittenger has to drive nearly 16 miles round trip to the Wayne Township landfill to fill up for the next day.
"This only runs one day because we don't have a big enough tank to hold enough gas to go at least two days," Pittenger said.
Still, the university hopes the fact that natural gas is so abundant, CNG can be even more efficient down the road.