Propane vs. Electric appliances: Seven reasons to switch

Did you know that just about any home comfort appliance that runs on electricity in your Middle Tennessee or Southern Kentucky home can also run on propane – and that it will usually operate more effectively, economically, and with less environmental impact than its electric-powered equivalent?

Consider these electric vs. propane* facts:

• When you take into account the cost to extract, produce, process, and transport each fuel to the point of use, propane is 87 efficient. Electricity? Only about 32 percent efficient.
• Burning a single gallon of propane produces the equivalent energy of 27 KW hours of electricity.
• On average, propane water heaters cost 30 percent less to operate than electric ones—up to 50 percent less if you use a tankless propane water heater. The average home saves about $174 a year using propane vs. electric water heaters, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (D.O.E).
• A storage-type propane water heater can heat water almost twice as fast as an electric water heater, which means faster recovery times if you run out of hot water.
• Propane appliances shrink your home’s carbon footprint: a propane tankless water heater, for example, emits about half as much carbon as a storage-type electric water heater.
• Today’s clean-burning, high-efficiency propane furnaces can operate at 95 percent efficiency or more. If electricity is produced by a coal-fired power plant, more than half the energy used to produce and deliver your energy is wasted.
• The average lifespan of a propane gas furnace is about 20 years; the average electric heat pump? About 13 years, according to the D.O.E.

Still using electric appliances? Consider making the switch. The expert technicians at Advanced Propane will install and service your propane gas-fired boiler, furnace, water heater, and other appliances – contact us today to learn more!

* Sources: National Propane Gas Association; Propane Education Research Council, unless otherwise stated.