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From a small warehouse in North Salt Lake City, Utah, a little-known company called Go Natural CNG is about to release a new home refueling system after more than two years of research. The system, backed by technology giant Parker Hannifin Corp, will fill up quicker than some models—about one gallon an hour—and last up to 20 years, according to Go Natural CNG Chief Executive Lucas Kjar. The unit, expected by the end of the year, will use hydraulic technology to compress (压缩) the gas for vehicle use, he said. He did not say how much the unit would cost. But Go Natural may have a lot of competition. General Electric, Whirlpool and Eaton are all working on home refueling technologies expected to be launched in the next couple of years. General Electric, which received $1.8 million from the government to develop its system, aims to release a unit that will cool natural gas to minus 50 degrees Celsius to extract (提取) water and other contaminates before refueling. GE aims to sell the unit at $500, about a tenth of the cost of current models. General Electric said it was in the development phase and declined to comment on the program’s progress. Honda, which makes the natural gas-fired Honda Civic GX, has contacted GE and Whirlpool to discuss their plans, according to Elmer Hardy, Honda’s senior manager of alternative fuel vehicles. Eaton, which received $3.4 million from the government to develop the technology, is working on a unit at its labs in Southfield, Michigan, that would use liquids to compress the gas instead of the traditional metal pistons(活塞). It aims to make a unit available for $500 by 2017. | 
