Propane vs Electricity: Facts You Need To Know

Learn About Propane’s Advantages for Keeping Your Home Warm

If you are looking to upgrade the HVAC system in your home, you have a choice when it comes to heating. Two of the most popular choices here in Tennessee are propane or electricity. Let’s go over the advantages that propane has to offer:

Enjoy Warmer, Cozier Comfort for Less Cost on Average

When you install a propane gas furnace, it circulates air up to 140°F throughout your home in short bursts that keep you comfortably warm. In comparison, electric systems only raise temperatures to 98.6°F. While that’s still warm, it actually feels noticeably cooler by comparison.

Propane generates more British Thermal Units (BTUs) than electricity. That means you need less propane to generate the same amount of heat energy as electric systems. Further, propane heating systems can reach efficiencies as high as 98%, meaning that virtually every cent of every dollar you spend on propane for heating goes toward heating—and isn’t lost in combustion along the way.

Propane-Powered Systems Offer Superior Reliability

Dependability is where propane stands head-and-shoulders above that of electric counterparts.

The propane you use to keep your home warm and comfortable is stored right at your home in your propane tank. You are not dependent on an electrical utility to heat your home. A car accident miles away, a thunderstorm, and other incidents could knock out your power and leave you in the cold.

• For example, look at what happened in Texas when its grid failed during brutal winter weather in 2021. Unfortunately, 246 people died, there were both food and water shortages, plus an estimated $18 billion in damage. Lack of reliability for electric systems can be disastrous.

Did you know that most of the nation’s electrical grid was built during the years immediately following World War II? Since then, population growth and dramatically increased electricity usage have put a huge demand on the electrical infrastructure in the U.S., sending it to near capacity while its aging equipment is beginning to buckle under the strain.

That demand and strain may increase even more with the push to “electrify everything,” including home heating. That increase can very well result in more incidents like that of Texas in 2021.

Propane: It’s a Cleaner, Greener Fuel for the Planet

Let’s get right to the facts: Electricity is not a “clean” energy source. In fact, the generation of electricity is second only to transportation when it comes to the creation of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

Approximately 60% of the nation’s electricity supply is generated by burning fossil fuels. This is attributed to coal and natural gas, specifically. On the other hand, propane is so clean burning it generates zero greenhouse gas emissions.

A staggering 58% of electricity is lost as it moves along power lines due to resistances, resulting in only one unit of electricity reaching your home for every three units that are generated at the power plant. This makes electric transmission highly inefficient and wasteful.

To guarantee we have electricity in our dwellings, burning more coal and natural gas—which generate greenhouse gases—is necessary. With propane gas stored adjacent residential and commercial properties inside a tank, there is almost no energy loss enroute from the tank to your heating system.

Get all the comfort, efficiency, and security that propane offers with reliable propane delivery and service from Advanced Propane. Become a customer today—it’s super easy to make the switch!