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Energy
efficiency. An
LPG water heater conserves enough energy and increases
energy efficiency sufficiently to reduce a family’s
energy cost by approximately $75 to $300 a year compared
to the cost of operating an electric water heater. Typical
energy savings range from $100 to $170 a year, or $1,100
to $1,870 over the expected 11-year useful life of a water
heater.
Low emissions of regulated pollutants.
Propane water heaters offer substantial air-quality benefits
by reducing emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon
monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, the
main “greenhouse” gas. Compared to a typical
electric water heater with a 0.93 energy efficiency factor,
a propane water heater with a 0.58 energy efficiency factor
reduces NOx emissions by approximately 90 percent, CO
emissions by approximately 70 percent, sulfur dioxide
by 99 percent and carbon dioxide by approximately 60 percent.
These air pollution reduction estimates represent the
difference between emissions from power plants utilizing
a typical fuel mix and emissions expected from the combustion
of propane in a properly adjusted water heater in good
condition, as listed in U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency publications on air pollution.
Low greenhouse-gas emissions.
Used for space heating and water heating, propane’s
total fuel-cycle emissions of urban air pollutants and
greenhouse gases are second-lowest after natural gas,
according to DeLucchi (1999). Electricity has total fuel-cycle
emissions two to four times higher than those for natural
gas or LPG, according to this analysis.
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