Do you know what LPG stands for? I’ll give you a hint, it doesn’t stand for Ladies Professional Golf. But you might know it by it’s other name. LPG stands for Liquefied petroleum gas, a.k.a. Propane. In Europe propane it is called autogas and is used extensively as an alternative fuel source for their transportation vehicles.

Now that we know what LPG or Propane is, what actually is it?

Propane is a colorless, odorless liquid that is stored under pressure in tanks. As pressure is released, propane vaporizes and converts to a gas that is used for fuel. A odorant is added to provide for leak detection.

Propane has a very good octane rating which makes it a great fuel source for internal combustion engines. A bonus of propane is it’s non-toxic and is environmentally friendly.

Did you know that propane is actually a by-product of natural gas processing and oil refining? Liquefied petroleum gas accounts for 2% of the energy used in the United States. It is a versatile fuel that is used in water heating, home heating, powering farm and industrial equipment, to name a few. The chemical industry also uses propane as a raw material for making plastics and other compounds.

Although a great fuel source for cars, less than 2% of all propane production is used in the transportation sector. The United States can learn from Europe and reduce carbon emissions by making propane an alternative fuel source for automobiles.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 at 5:17 am and is filed under Alternative Fuels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.