You have seen a lot of ways to cook with gas before, but it was never until your daughter went south to Louisiana for college that you experienced a crawfish boil. Up north, your idea of cooking with gas had to do with a gas burner on your stove in the kitchen. Down south, the cooking with gas involves any manner of seafood, lots of cajun seasoning, potatoes, onions, and a variety of other foods. It is delicious, and you found the whole process fascinating. Your daughter was almost as excited to have you attend a crawdad feed as she was to introduce you to her newest college friends. Who knew that cooking with gas could be such an attraction.
Propane Fuels Many Homes, Businesses, and Work Shops
What kind of heating source do you use at your home? Do you use a heat pump that has you relying on both electric and utility companies to help you keep your water and home warm in the winter and cool in the summer? Or, are you like a growing number of Americans who are converting their home heating system to propane services? With the purchases of propane tanks and other propane accessories, home and business owners can convert their energy needs to a clean and affordable energy source that is less dependent on other nations and local utility companies.
One of the advantages of heating and cooking with gas is that propane is a convenient source of energy to ship and move. In fact, when it is contained in an approved cylinder or tank, propane exists as a liquid and vapor. When it is used, propane vapor is released from the container as a fuel gas that burns very cleanly. Propane, in fact, is as much as 270 times more compact in its liquid state than when it is in a gas state. Basically, this makes it more economical to transport and store as a liquid.
In addition to being easy to transport and store, propane is also a clean energy source that is found right here in America. In fact, as much as 90% of America?s propane supply is produced domestically. In addition, 70% of the remaining supply is imported from the close locations of Canada and Mexico. Nearly half of this propane is comes from crude oil refining and the other half comes from the processing of natural gas. As a result of these processes, propane is a readily available, and is a secure energy source that benefits the environment.
Propane is also a source of energy used outside of heating homes and businesses. It is also an efficient source of energy for many agricultural and industrial uses. For instance, as many as 660,000 American farmers use propane for everything from their irrigation pumps to grain dryers, as well as standby generators and other pieces of farm equipment. Propane, in addition, is also an essential fuel for the planting and harvesting process, including: drying of crops, flame cultivation, ripening of fruit, heating of space and water, and the refrigeration of food.
On the industrial side of propane use, the applications are even more diverse. As one example, welders use propane for brazing, soldering, and cutting. Other industrial workers use propane for annealing and vulcanizing. In the petrochemical manufacturing field, propane is used to manufacture plastics.
Propane Is a Clean, Affordable, Domestic Energy Source
As the nation continues to grapple with the energy that it uses and the sources of that energy, it is not surprising that clean, economical, and domestic propane continues to climb to a spot of importance. Once thought of as a source of energy that was mainly used in the rural areas of the country, the use of propane is expanding into residential locations in more urban areas as well.
What do you have planned for your menu for your next get together? Are you a midwesterner waiting for a warm weekend so that you can fire up the propane grill to cook some steaks? Are you a southerner just waiting for the shrimp and crawdad boil season? No matter where you live in the U.S. you likely have at least one cooking source that relies on tanks of refillable propane tanks? Do you have all you need?