The Many Uses of Propane — What is it Used For, Outside of the Home?

When most people think of propane, they probably start to think about barbecue. People might be prone to seeing white propane tanks outside of some homes, but have probably given little thought to what sort of other functions the gas may have, or how much use a homeowner can get out of it.
As most of us undoubtedly already know, propane is good for a lot more than just running the grill. This versatile energy source is used by over 9 million families for a wide array of uses, ranging from furnaces, water heaters, fireplaces, cooktops, generators, and many others. Water heating with propane is quite a bit cheaper than heating with other gas products.
Wherever a homeowner may typically depend on other energy sources, propane is more than sufficient for the job. Not only that, but it burns cleaner, and it’s more cost-effective, energy efficient, and reliable than most of the alternatives.
What people may or may not realize — even those who use it around their homes — is that propane fuel is also a popular energy source in industry and agriculture thanks to its use as a cost efficient fuel.
There are over a million commercial operations, like hotels, laundromats, restaurants, and bars use propane in much the same way a homeowner would: for cooling or heating the air inside the building, refrigeration, cooking, drying clothes, lighting materials, and, of course, barbecuing. Odds are, a business you shop at or restaurant you eat at prefers water heating with propane.
As mentioned, propane is widely used by farmers and others in the agricultural industry for a number of reasons. Over 600,000 agricultural sites use propane in one way or another — some of the most popular uses are for grain dryers, irrigation pumps, standby generations, and a number of other pieces of machinery you might find on the farm. Farmers also use it for flame cultivation, grain dryers, fruit ripening, space and water heating, and refrigeration of food and other perishables.
That’s a pretty impressive resume.
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Propane Tanks — How They Work and Why They Are Completely Safe

People have a lot of questions about propane fuel. There are news stories every now and again about a tank of propane bursting, or something catching fire due to an ignition linked, at least partially, to nearby propane equipment. Consequently, people become understandably just a bit curious about propane safety.

Most people become curious about propane tanks in general. How can something so flammable be safely stored in a tank that some homeowners keep inside their homes, or very close to it? Well, keep in mind that those tanks are very well built. The reason they’re used is simple — propane can exist as a liquid or a vapor, but is literally hundreds of times more compact as a liquid than it is as a gas. Storing propane inside of those tanks you see is a choice made by the math of the situation. If you wanted to buy propane as a gas, you’d be getting about 270 times less energy for the same tank.

When propane is released from the tank, it comes out as a clean-burning fuel gas. Millions of homeowners, businesses, industrial and agricultural sites, and other locations rely on this gas for its versatility and efficacy. It’s widely used for heating or cooling air, cutting, heat treating, barbecuing, crop drying, cultivation, water heating, and refrigeration. Propane services virtually every need.

The gas itself isn’t a danger to you at all. In fact, if it weren’t for the engineers and manufacturers adding odorants to it, humans wouldn’t be able to detect it at all! It’s also non-toxic, so there’s very little to be afraid of when it comes to propane.

Of all the various available gas products, propane fuel is easily one of the safest and most cost-efficient fuels available today. There’s a lot of hard science and intelligent engineering responsible for those tanks and the gas inside of them. They’re very safe to use.

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Tax Credit for Propane Forklift Customers

Previously we told you about a 50 cent per gallon tax credit. That credit expired December 31, 2014.

However, the PATH Act of 2015 (Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes) signed by President Obama makes retroactive to January 1, 2015 the 50 cent per gallon alternative fuel tax credit and alternative fuel mixture tax credit. It also extends the credit for 2016 but at a reduced rate. This credit is commonly applicable for taxpayers who use propane or liquefied petroleum gas to fuel vehicles not required to be registered for highway use, e.g. forklifts.

If you aren’t familiar with this 504 credit, below is a recap of how the credit works.

As you probably know, propane used in forklifts is exempt from the Federal Excise Tax.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made it clear that under the terms of P.L. 109-59, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005 (referred to as the Highway Bill) that forklifts fit the definition of an off-highway business motor vehicle and hence, propane used in a forklift is eligible for the 50 cent per gallon tax credit.

Be certain you understand this clearly:

PROPANE used in a forklift is eligible for the 50 cent per gallon tax credit

This is a huge benefit, assuming you took appropriate steps to properly register with the IRS. So read on and if the process sounds a bit cumbersome, it is worth it.

As a first step, forklift operators must file a Form 637 with the IRS in order to become registered as an “Alternative Fueler”. IRS will then issue a registration number identifying the forklift operator as an Alternative Fueler. After receiving a registration number, the forklift operator can file a claim for the credit at the end of the year by filing Form 4136.

Lin-gas, Inc. is not a tax advisor. We offer this information to you for further review and suggest that you obtain the advice of your tax counsel.

Relevant IRS forms may be viewed and downloaded by going to www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html

As always, we appreciate your business and hope you will contact us if there is anything we might do to help you complete the process. Please review our website for additional information. We hope this information will offer a tax advantage to your Company and urge you to seek professional tax advice for this most important benefit.

If you have any questions, please call Judy at our Evansville office at 800-850-4380.

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The Importance of Propane Services in the U.S.

If you’re like most homeowners nowadays, you probably have a residential propane service, but you don’t know too much about it. In fact, you’ve probably been heating your home with propane for years without considering where it really comes from or how it impacts the overall energy industry.

So why exactly are propane services so important for homeowners today?

Propane fuel is one of the most common methods of home heating in the U.S. today; around 60 million Americans depend on this service, believe it or not. Over 8 million homes in the U.S. use propane, and almost 5% of these households consider propane to be their primary heating source.

Propane fuel is even more important for people living in mobile or manufactured homes. Out of the estimated 6.3 million mobile homes in the U.S. today, at least 16% of these homes depend on propane more than any other type of heating fuel.

Not only is propane important for residential buildings, it’s also essential for commercial buildings, too. Hotels and restaurants, for example, use propane fuel for a variety of different purposes. Everything from cooking to refrigeration, from washing clothes to providing heat and light — propane can be used for it all. It’s estimated that 1 million individual commercial establishments depend on propane.

Propane services are also very important for certain niche industries, such as farming. Approximately 660,000 farmers in the U.S. depend on propane for irrigation pumps, generators, and a variety of other farm equipment needed to produce crops, care for animals, and ensure that food is kept safe and clean. Most Americans don’t consider these needs simply because they aren’t familiar with all of the necessary equipment on a farm, but without this equipment, the entire food production industry would be affected.

Last but not least, it should be noted that propane services are crucial to the security of the energy industry. Around 90% of the propane consumed in the U.S. is actually produced domestically; the majority of the remaining 10% typically comes from Canada or Mexico. Compared to other forms of fuel, domestically-harvested propane is a very stable source of energy and it stimulates the U.S. economy by creating a need for local jobs.

So now it’s time to ask yourself, just how important is the propane fuel industry today? We bet your answer will be the same as ours!

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