The Truth About Propane vs. Electricity

Written on: February 28, 2022

Here Are 10 Facts to Consider

Electrification advocates claim that electricity is the only clean and widespread energy solution readily available today. That is far from the truth. Just consider these 10 facts.

1. Electricity might not release greenhouse gas emissions in your home, but many of the power plants producing it do. Today, more than 60% of electricity comes from burning coal and natural gas, and electricity production releases the second-largest share of emissions.
2. Propane is one of the cleanest energy sources, producing 43% fewer emissions than the equivalent amount of grid-generated electricity.
3. Electric-heated homes are notoriously inefficient. It requires 27 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce the same amount of energy as a single gallon of propane.
4. Full electrification will badly overburden the power grid, increasing the risk of prolonged blackouts.
5. Converting a home to electricity is extremely expensive, a burden on Georgia homeowners.
6. Propane gas, like natural gas, is clean-burning and highly efficient. Modern propane gas furnaces are 90% efficient, meaning very little heating energy is lost up the chimney and into the atmosphere. This also means your home burns less fuel to stay warm.
7. The minimal number of emissions released by a propane-heated house are cleaner than most alternatives. Propane contains virtually no particulate matter–a known carcinogen–and releases significantly less carbon dioxide (CO2) than other energy sources.
8. Homes with propane-fueled furnaces emit up to 50% less nitrogen oxide and 82% less sulfur oxide than technologies fueled by electricity. These emissions contribute to acid rain and cause respiratory ailments.
9. 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.
10. 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.

The Future: Renewable Propane

Renewable propane represents the next step towards a zero-carbon emissions future.

Renewable propane is molecularly identical to propane. But it is made with renewable, carbon-neutral 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.