Propane Gas Appliances Cannot Be Banned in North Carolina

New Law Protects Right to Choose Your Heating Source

A few months ago, North Carolina became the 25th state in the country to pass legislation protecting the rights of consumers to choose their heating source.

House Bill 130 prohibits local governments from banning any service based on the type or source of energy to be delivered, including propane. For example, the new law safeguards continued access for the installation and use of gas appliances, such as those used for space heating, water heating and cooking.

Why was this law necessary? Well, dozens of communities have been changing their building codes in the past few years to ban gas hookups in new residential and commercial buildings.

Momentum for this movement gained more steam when New York recently became the first state in the country to ban fossil fuels in most new buildings—including natural gas and propane gas stoves and furnaces. Under this new measure, New York will require all-electric heating and cooking in new buildings shorter than seven stories by 2026, and in taller buildings by 2029.

Government leaders in New York and elsewhere have decided to aggressively promote electricity as the only clean energy solution. They do this at the expense of traditional proven fuels like propane, natural gas and heating oil.

Unfortunately, they also ignore the environmental value of low-carbon propane, which your local propane supplier delivers right now, as well as the promise of renewable propane in the near future.

Fighting against climate change by lowering emissions requires a sensible approach to energy policy— not one that tries to force homeowners and businesses who like propane to switch to electric heating. We should all be pleased that that our leaders in North Carolina are keeping us on track to incorporate a balanced and clean energy plan for our state.

Propane vs. Electricity: Which Is Cleaner?

Clean-burning propane gas appliances waste very little fuel in the combustion process. Compare that to electricity. While it is true there is no heat loss at the point of consumption (your home), the electric grid experiences a five percent loss of energy during the transmission and distribution process. That may not seem like much, but it’s enough to power all seven countries in Central America, according to the National Resources Defense Council.

Besides the inefficiency in the transmission and distribution of electricity, there is something else to consider: energy derived from our electric grid is far from clean. In 2021, the combustion of fossil fuels like natural gas and coal for electricity generation was the nation’s second-largest source of CO2 emissions. And right here in North Carolina, more than 50% of the electricity generated is still sourced from coal and natural gas.

Renewable Propane and Net-Zero Carbon Emissions

Renewable propane represents the next step towards a zero-carbon emissions future for the propane industry and propane consumers.

Renewable propane is molecularly identical to propane. But it is made with renewable resources such as animal oils, plant oils, biomass, and other triglycerides.

While renewable propane is not widely available yet, this sector will continue to grow in the years ahead. More people will be able to use it to lower their carbon footprint even further than they do now with traditional propane.

Read more about renewable propane.