The US Department of Energy is giving 700 thousand dollars to fund an energy research project at Oregon State University Cascades Campus.

From the DOE’s perspective, there’s a lot to like about natural gas. For one thing it’s something we have plenty of, unlike say, oil. It’s also less expensive than oil, and results in less greenhouse gas pollution. The problem right now, says lead researcher Chris Hagen, is how to get it into your car. Natural gas needs to be compressed. But right now, there’s little economic incentive to build fueling stations.

“And so what we will be doing will be trying to modify a vehicle such that in can fuel itself with compressed natural gas without the use of a separate compressor. And so that, basically every person could use their residential natural gas to fuel their cars and do their commuting,” said Hagen.

Researchers at Colorado State University will provide help with mathematical modeling and software.

Hagen is expects his team to have prototype in about two year’s time.

This story originally appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting.