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Commercial buildings must maintain operations during power outages, not only for life-safety reasons but also because a loss in business or product can have major financial implications. Propane prime and standby generators deliver reliable, efficient power for commercial buildings. They ensure continual operations during power outages, with clean emissions, long fuel shelf life, and reduced maintenance compared to diesel options. Diesel has long been the go-to option for many power-generating applications in commercial buildings, but it comes with a number of serious drawbacks.
- Environmental repercussions. Diesel is a dirty fuel. It produces high levels of harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter, contributing to air quality issues. In addition, if it leaks it can contaminate soil and groundwater.
- Shorter shelf life. Diesel has a short shelf life and starts to degrade at six months, leading to operational issues in generators and other equipment. This necessitates regular fuel monitoring and ongoing maintenance. When diesel degrades, the equipment must be drained and refilled with new fuel.
- Increased maintenance. Diesel engines are susceptible to wet stacking and carbon deposits that can “gunk up” engines if the fuel isn’t changed when it starts degrading. Ultimately, if left unchecked this negatively impacts equipment life and can lead to higher equipment replacement costs. Poor equipment maintenance can also pose operational and legal issues for commercial facilities such as hospitals and emergency services that are legally required to maintain backup power. If diesel generators are poorly maintained and do not start automatically with loss of power, life safety is at stake.
- Disposal issues. The need to change out the diesel every six months is not only wasteful if fuel goes unused, but poses disposal issues. The diesel must be placed in a secure, leak-proof container and disposed of as hazardous waste at a recycling or hazardous waste facility. Doing otherwise can cause severe environmental contamination.
Propane Is Preferred in Commercial Operations
Diesel is not the only fuel for power generation. Propane can handle the heavy loads — it offers environmental benefits, in addition to on-site storage, maintenance, and reliability advantages.
- Environmentally friendly. Using propane has environmental benefits, particularly compared with diesel, because it is a much cleaner fuel with lower emissions. Propane generators can displace diesel generators in many markets and significantly improve air quality, mainly by lowering the release of NOx and particulate matter into the air. U.S. Department of Energy data shows that diesel had 16 percent greater CO2 emissions per unit of energy compared with propane. Propane can also be stored in tanks on-site, either above ground or buried, without risk of soil or groundwater contamination.
- Reduced maintenance costs. Propane burns cleaner than diesel, meaning there will be less carbon buildup in equipment, and it’s not susceptible to wet stacking. This extends equipment life and leads to lower maintenance costs.
- Longer shelf life improves resilience. Unlike diesel, propane has an indefinite shelf life, significantly reducing the maintenance burden and providing building owners the confidence that their generator will operate when needed. This long shelf life benefits facilities that are sporadically used, have temperature-sensitive operations, or are legally required to have backup power such as healthcare facilities and data centers. Propane provides this peace of mind.
- Combined heat and power boosts efficiency. Combined heat and power (CHP) systems use propane to generate electricity to power a building. They then reuse the engine’s heat to produce hot water that can be used for heating, cooling, domestic hot water, and other building functions. Because the heat and power used to operate a propane-powered CHP system are produced on site, they eliminate efficiency losses from the power plant to enhance energy efficiency, minimize waste heat and emissions, and deliver electricity and thermal energy precisely where it’s needed. They also offer significant reductions in NOx, particulate matter, and CO2 emissions.
- Decarbonization via renewable propane. Dedicated propane engines and/or renewable propane can also help meet decarbonization goals. Depending on whether the engine is optimized for propane, propane generators can also provide CO2 emissions reductions. Renewable propane, produced from renewable feedstocks such as used cooking oil and animal tallow using hydrotreated vegetable oil process, is identical to conventional propane structurally and functionally. And it can lead to a 50 to 70 percent reduction in lifecycle CO2 emissions compared with conventional diesel and can accelerate deep decarbonization efforts. Note that while renewable propane is actively being produced, most of it is used in the autogas sector.
Moving Forward with Propane
Facilities ready to begin using propane equipment can look into PERC’s convenient Commercial Equipment Directory to understand the products available and how to work with local propane marketers. Users simply choose the desired equipment from a dropdown, then review parameters that will help to further narrow the equipment options and respective manufacturers.
In addition, PERC‘s Alternative Technology Demonstration & Research Program helps commercial and industrial businesses adopt propane-powered CHP and cooling systems—providing lower energy costs, improved reliability, and reduced emissions. Plus, Alt Tech Demo participants earn up to $30,000 for sharing performance data!
