Propane Vs. Electricity: Lower Carbon Footprint

Written on: April 12, 2021

Propane is such a crucial part of the energy mix. American-made propane remains abundant and provides comfort and convenience and saves you money. And you don’t get propane blackouts or large groups of people experiencing service interruptions.

But despite all of this, there has been an aggressive push from those in government to champion the increased use of electricity in favor of other fuels, especially propane, natural gas, and heating oil. This is being done either with expensive and discriminatory incentives or onerous regulations.

But this “policy-driven electrification” would increase the average residential household cost, result in minimal reductions in emissions and put a severe strain on the electric grid.

8 Reasons Why Propane Is Better For The Environment

Electricity is often touted as a “clean” energy source, but that assertion becomes less convincing when you take a closer look. There’s no doubt that propane has the lower carbon footprint and is, far away, the greener, more environmentally-friendly fuel.

1. About half of the electricity generated in the United States is still generated by coal-fired power plants. These power plants are among the largest sources of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States.
2. It takes three units of source energy to get one unit of electricity into your home. That means more coal has to be burned, generating even more carbon emissions, to get electricity to our homes.
3. Because propane is right there inside a tank on your property, there is virtually no loss of energy from the tank to your gas appliances.
4. You need much less propane to produce the same amount of heat energy. For example, just one gallon of propane equals 27 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity.
5. Propane has such a low carbon content that it produces next to zero greenhouse gas emissions or air pollutants, making it a clean-burning energy source that can reliably heat homes and water, fuel multiple indoor and outdoor appliances and even power vehicles.
6. The average propane-powered home reduces carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 30% compared to all-electric homes.
7. Direct use of propane for space heating, water heating, cooking and clothes drying reduces greenhouse gas emissions up to 50%.
8. Propane is more efficient than electricity when evaluating the total energy consumed (this includes the energy consumed in the extraction, production, processing and transportation of the fuel to the point of use). Based on this analysis, propane is 87% efficient; electricity is 32% efficient.

The Future: Renewable Propane

The success story of propane will continue into the future. Renewable propane represents the next step towards a zero-carbon emissions future.

Renewable propane is molecularly identical to the propane we use today. But it is made with renewable resources such as animal oils, plant oils, biomass, and other triglycerides.

As the renewable propane sector grows, more and more Georgians will be able to use it to lower their carbon footprint even further.

Find out more about renewable propane.