Sign Up for News Updates
Most people don’t give much thought to propane on a daily basis beyond their backyard grill, so it probably wouldn’t be a big deal if it no longer existed… right? With National Propane Day coming up on October 7, we thought it would be interesting to imagine the impact of a full day where propane simply disappeared.
By playing a key role in cooking, heating, power generation, emergency backup, transportation, and agricultural processes, propane powers a number of critical systems that help the country prosper. Let’s take a closer look at the obvious and not-so-obvious ways that propane fuels activities, work, and processes across America.
Consumer
We might as well start with the elephant in the room: backyard grills. We all know that outdoor cooking is a hugely popular American pastime, and more than 42 million U.S households use propane for their grilling. When you add in the millions of people using various kinds of propane tanks for camping and RVs along with handy propane heaters, we’re talking about a significant portion of the U.S. population. Take propane away and you’re going to have a bunch of grumpy (and cold) football fans, campers, roadtrippers, and weekend barbecuers.
In a lesser-known home use case, propane is a primary power source for more than 12 million households in the country. This translates to everything from ovens to major appliances to home and water heating. Besides offering flexibility and affordability, residential propane furnaces are energy efficient, producing 50% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than electric furnaces based on the average electricity produced in the U.S. Without propane, tens of millions of Americans would be unable to manage daily home life and have no heat for the winter.
Agriculture
Propane also powers a wide array of equipment throughout the country’s farming community, including irrigation engines, grain dryers, flame weed control burners, and commercial mowers. About 40% of U.S. farms trust propane as a reliable energy source for their operations, so eliminating propane for a day would have a massive impact on our nation’s food supply and agricultural economy.
Transportation
Many people aren’t aware that propane powers a number of medium-duty fleets throughout the U.S. There are around 60,000 propane vehicles in the country, including school buses, shuttles, delivery trucks, and police vehicles. Propane autogas vehicles emit significantly fewer nitrogen oxides (NOx) and greenhouse gas compared with diesel and gasoline.
More than 22,000 propane school buses transport 1.3 million children across 1,000 school districts in 48 states. Propane is a low-carbon energy source that produces up to 96% fewer toxic emissions than diesel buses. With propane autogas buses, students aren’t exposed to the emissions that can aggravate asthma and cause other health issues. The 1.3 million kids might be thrilled to have a “no-propane” day off from school, but we’re placing bets that the parents would not be pleased.
Ports
Our nation’s ports are the lifeblood of our economy, and propane fuels many operations at major shipping hubs such as the Port of Long Beach and Port Newark. Propane offers a versatile fuel source for critical port functions such as forklifts, trucking, tractors, generators, and marine vessels. Remove propane at your own peril, but no guarantees that your latest Amazon order will show up on time!
Power Generation
With our nation’s electrical grid under enormous stress and frequent assault by increasingly intense weather events, many households and businesses are turning to backup generators for uninterrupted power supply. The majority of these generators are diesel-powered, pumping tons of CO2, NOx, and particulate matter into the air. It’s clear we need a cleaner alternative to diesel, and generators that operate on propane have proven to be an environmentally friendly replacement.
Additionally, microgrids provide a decentralized energy resource for buildings seeking partial or total grid independence. These systems use a combination of solar panels and energy storage with backup power generation. While most of the 460+ microgrid installations in the U.S. use diesel-powered backup generators, clean propane is making significant inroads into the market. Almost every day presents some power-related outages in the U.S., so the results of taking away propane that backs up thousands of homes and businesses could be dramatic.
It’s clear that propane is a critical and cleaner energy source that fuels countless processes across the country, while contributing nearly $64 billion to the American GDP and around 60,000 jobs. The good news about our exercise is that not only will there never be a day without propane, but the U.S. has the capacity to produce all the propane we need. Also, recent innovations have accelerated the potential production of renewable propane, which produces near-zero C02 emissions. According to the World Liquid Gas Association, renewable propane could meet half the world’s demand for propane by 2050, offering a huge boost to decarbonization goals. Going forward, instead of asking, “What would a day without propane mean?” we should be asking, “How can we incorporate more propane into our energy infrastructure?”