From water and home heating to cooking and clothes drying, propane provides essential energy solutions to help you save money and lower your carbon footprint.
View fact sheets and brochures filled with useful information about propane and the propane industry.
Propane is used daily by hundreds of thousands of Canadians from coast to coast to coast, from heating homes, drying crops, powering forklifts to transporting children to school.
The health and safety of customers and employees are vital to the propane industry.
Have a question about propane? Check out our list of frequently asked questions, because chances are it’s probably been asked before!
Warm weather means more backyard BBQs! Check out our tips to ensure you are operating your BBQ safely.
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Canadian propane is an affordable, portable and lower-carbon energy solution – it is energy for all.
Compared to conventional energy sources (e.g., heating oil, diesel and gasoline), using propane improves air quality, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and helps protect the environment.
In the unlikely event of a leak, propane becomes a vapour that does not contaminate the soil, air or aquifers, unlike liquid fuels. Propane dissipates quickly into the atmosphere – a small amount of air movement is enough to disperse the vapour.
This is especially important when operating in environmentally sensitive areas such as farms, nature reserves or by water.
An odourant added to naturally odourless propane helps easily detect a leak.
No fugitive emission impacts: Fugitive emissions’ is a term for gas that escapes into the atmosphere before it is combusted. Propane is a smart environmental choice when it comes to such emissions, particularly when compared to natural gas because it is not a greenhouse gas and has no impact on the atmosphere if accidentally released prior to combustion.
Natural gas (methane) however, is a potent greenhouse gas in its unburnt state. Up to 5% of natural gas is inadvertently released during transmission, prior to use. This unburnt methane generates 25 times more greenhouse impact on the atmosphere than CO2.
Propane emits 60% less carbon monoxide (CO) than gasoline, 98% less particulate matter than diesel and contains virtually no sulphur – a contributor to acid rain.
It emits no soot, and low hydrogen and oxides of nitrogen, which are the basic precursors of ground-level ozone, or smog.
Burning propane produces lower levels of air toxins, such as benzene and acetaldehyde, than either gasoline or diesel.
Propane is always the cleaner choice when compared to gasoline: Light Duty Trucks: 11% Fewer GHGs School Buses: 18% Fewer GHGs Lawn Mowers: 16% Fewer GHGs Irrigation Engines: 20% Fewer GHGs
Recognized for its low emissions and less damaging environmental impact by Canada’s Alternative Fuels Act, propane is one of the cleanest and most versatile energy sources in existence.
Propane is a lower-emission energy source than heating oil, diesel, gasoline and in some provinces, electricity, whether used to heat your home, power a farm, or run a fleet of school buses. When upstream (lifecycle) emissions are considered, the case for propane becomes even stronger.
Major technological advances are being made with renewable propane – a “drop-in energy source” identical to propane. Renewable propane is sourced from used cooking oil and other waste products, making it a carbon-neutral energy source, meaning that it adds no new carbon to the atmosphere when burned.
Check out the CPA’s Propane Decarbonization Roadmap for Canada. This first-of-its-kind study provides technical evidence to support renewable propane production in Canada.
Climate Change Solutions
Propane can play a vital role by:
We need a diverse range of energy choices to manage environmental challenges. The reliability of propane is needed as a primary or co-primary energy source to complement solar and wind systems. It can help reduce emissions while providing dependability, especially during challenging weather conditions. Propane is not subject to power outages like electricity, making it one of the most reliable energy sources available.
With its power, reliability and versatility, propane is an essential part of a diverse mix enabling cleaner fuels to be used in a wide range of applications from powering remote and Indigenous communities to powering construction sites. As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, propane, with its ability to go anywhere, will serve the needs of future generations with even more sustainable solutions.
