Posted: December 9, 2024
Have you noticed more and more homes in St. Mary’s County and around Southern Maryland with propane tanks on their properties? At Q-Dog Quality Discount Oil & Gas, we’ve certainly noticed. As the premier residential propane delivery company in the region, we keep countless Maryland homes supplied with this clean, versatile fuel.
Propane powers a range of fantastic home equipment, including heating systems, water heaters, gas logs, stoves, dryers, generators and outdoor living products. In this article, we will discuss where this fuel comes from and how it’s evolving.
Virtually all the propane you use in your daily life comes from right within the U.S. borders. Indeed, our country produces way more propane than we can use domestically. We have been a net exporter of this fuel since 2011.
This is excellent for U.S. consumers of propane. If you use propane in your home, you’re using a fuel that is far less dependent on overseas energy markets. That means propane’s price tends to be lower and more stable than many comparable home fuels.
By and large, propane is a co-product of other fuels. About 70% of our propane is part of the natural gas extraction process. When natural gas comes out of the ground, heavier hydrocarbons like ethane, butane, isobutane and propane come with it. These products are repackaged for separate distribution.
The second largest production stream for propane is crude oil. When crude oil is refined to make heavier products like gasoline and diesel, lighter hydrocarbons like propane fall off and can be processed separately.
Some of the really good news here is that no additional wells need to be drilled to extract propane and bring it to the marketplace. Want even more good news? More and more of our propane is coming from renewable sources.
Renewable propane is one of the most promising green energy products around today. It’s chemically identical to conventional propane so you can use it in existing gas equipment without modification. However, this fuel is made using recycled and organic feedstocks such as cooking oil, plant oils, woody biomass, and animal fats.
The resulting fuel has a much lower carbon impact than conventional propane (which is already a low-carbon fuel). In fact, renewable propane can be carbon-neutral at the point of combustion.
Renewable propane is not yet in widespread use as a home fuel, but it’s already used in commercial and transportation capacities. You can expect its production to grow considerably in the coming years.
If you want dependable and affordable propane delivery in Southern Maryland, look no further than Q-Dog. We not only offer FREE Automatic Delivery and propane tank monitoring to our valued customers, but we also offer multiple ways that you can receive recurring discounts.
Want to get premium propane for your home at a price that can’t be beat? Contact us today to arrange a propane delivery.
