The propane industry sees things differently. It needs to “combat the growing narrative that fossil fuel combustion is the main cause of climate change, and that propane is a dirty fossil fuel,” Stuart Weidie, chairman and chief executive of North Carolina propane company Blossman Gas, told the propane council at a February 2021 meeting.
Understand the Latest News on Climate Change Card 1 of 5 Eight hot years. Scientists from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that the last eight years were the warmest on record. Extreme summer temperatures in Europe, China and elsewhere contributed to 2022 being the fifth-hottest year on record; 2016 was the hottest year ever. U.S. carbon emissions. America’s greenhouse gas emissions from energy and industry rose last year, moving the nation in the opposite direction from its climate goals, according to preliminary estimates by a nonpartisan research firm. Emissions ticked up 1.3 percent, even as renewables surpassed coal for energy generation nationwide for the first time in over six decades. Parasitic populations According to a groundbreaking new study that analyzed 85 parasitic species, the majority of them suffered population declines over 140 years. The decline, seemingly driven by warming temperatures, suggests another unexpected way that climate change can harm ecosystems. Ozone layer restoration. The weakened ozone layer, which is vital to protecting life on Earth, is on track to be restored to full strength within decades, according to a U.N.-backed assessment. In the report, scientists said that China had largely eliminated rogue emissions of chemicals that had been destroying the critical layer in the upper atmosphere. Biodiversity agreement. Delegates from roughly 190 countries meeting in Canada approved a sweeping United Nations agreement to protect 30 percent of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030 and to take a slew of other measures against biodiversity loss. The agreement comes as biodiversity is declining worldwide at rates never seen before in human history.
“The movement to electrify everything is rapidly gaining momentum, and poses a substantial threat to the sustainability of our industry,” he said, according to meeting minutes.
Erin Hatcher, who heads communications at PERC, said its campaign “asserts propane’s role in a clean energy future” and “promotes the advantages of a wide path to decarbonization.” Influencers like Mr. Blashaw, she said “use and specify propane in their construction projects and are very familiar with propane’s advantages.” Ms. Hatcher would not say how much her group has paid Mr. Blashaw.
Mr. Weidie said that his fundamental belief in the importance of a low-carbon future had been “lost in out-of-context conversation.” He said he believed electrification was set to “play a big role but is not the only answer,” and that propane was “a great energy for generations to come.”
Mr. Blashaw referred questions to PERC.
Most American homes are heated by natural gas or oil. But in states where the energy grid is increasingly powered by wind, solar and other renewables, electric heat pumps are fast becoming a lower-carbon alternative to gas and oil. They heat as well as cool.
Researchers at Princeton University found that for the United States to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2050, nearly one-quarter of American homes would need to switch to heat pumps. That’s double the number today.