i have seen a lot of those commercials lately, promoting the use of propane for water heaters, generators, etc. I went to the usepropane.com website for more information. Up until now, I have always thought of propane as something to use for a barbecue and little more. What I found particularly interesting was that the website describes propane as an "alternative fuel." The website states that propane is nontoxic and insoluble in water; since it is a gas, it doesn't spill or pool. According to the website, propane exhaust creates 60-70% less smog producing hydrocarbons than gasoline, 12% less carbon dioxide than gasoline, 20% less nitrogen oxide than gasoline and 60% less carbon monoxide than gasoline. This all sounded pretty good, but I still wondered exactly how propane is produced. I looked at another website that said it is derived from other petroleum products during oil or natural gas processing. I guess I should have known that, but I had never really thought about where it came from.

As I thought more about propane, I was still bothered by the "alternative fuel" description, that apparently the EPA said was appropriate. In a sense, it's actually good that propane is created through processing of oil and natural gas, in that it sounds like a secondary product that might otherwise be wasted. However, it is still essentially a fossil fuel and comes from sources that will run out eventually. In addition, the non-polluting image of propane may be somewhat misleading, as there are certainly still emissions--e.g. carbon dioxide, even if they are 12% less than gasoline. I'm not against the use of propane since it is a good way apparently to maximize output of fuel from oil or natural gas processing, but the "alternative fuel" label seems like a misnomer. How can it be an alternative to fossil fuel use, when it is derived from fossil fuel use? Let's call it what it is instead of applying a label to propane that doesn't fit.