Three Holiday Gifts to Avoid

These are, without a doubt, bad holiday gift ideas – the opposite of Oprah’s Favorite Things. To avoid disappointment this holiday season, Propane Council’s advice is not to give these terrible presents:

1. One-Size-Fits-All Gift Set – This gift set electrifies everything. The writing on the box proclaims: “Electrification is the only way! Absolutely no other solution will do.” The problem with this one-size-fits-all gift is that electrification is not always the best low-carbon solution. For example, electric medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks actually create more carbon than those same models running on propane. Additionally, what if you’re not grid-connected? Pushing an all-electric solution is not practical for everyone; and there’s one more downside: This gift comes with 12 monthly payments every year, that are always a surprise!
2. Science Belief Kit –The science belief kit is full of exciting experiments you can do right at home, but there’s a trick. You have to believe the experiment will work before it will. No research, evidence or proof is needed! You just need to believe the results of the experiment will match your preconceived notions. The experiment of spending $4.5 trillion on the electrical grid, for example, without causing equity issues is a great one if you believe that the journey to a low-carbon future can only be achieved by all-electrification.
3. Hammer and Nail Kit – When you’re a hammer, everything’s a nail, so this gift is not a great one for those who believe there’s more than one way to do things. But hey – what could be more fun than to pound any objective science to smithereens if it doesn’t conform to the way you think the world should be? Every hammer and nail kit comes with a list of disregarding opportunities and a variety of nail lengths to drive home your point! Here’s an example: Studies show that natural gas homes produce one-third fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to all-electric homes. Don’t like that finding? With the hammer and nail kit, you can smash that research to bits and proclaim, “Electricity is 100% efficient and the most environmentally-friendly solution.”

A Better Option

Instead of wrapping up these CO2 reduction gifts, you may want to think about this instead:  Abundant, affordable and low-carbon solutions like propane provide a clean energy option for many people and many applications. Clean energy fuels represent the fastest, fairest way for us all to get to a low carbon future – and that’s a gift that’ll keep on giving.

Have a great holiday season!

Download Article