Written on: November 25, 2024
If you’re a facilities manager for a school, college or university, you may be looking for efficiencies to help keep operational costs down. Well, class is session: educational facilities of all types can learn a lot from other institutions, such as hotels, hospitals and nursing facilities—which all get great value from the versatility of propane.
Whether you are running a public or private institution, commercial propane can help you improve energy efficiency and save money while keeping your students comfortable.
Propane’s versatility as a source of energy is what makes it such an ideal fuel for a broad range of commercial and institutional uses. Propane can be used for heating, cooking, operating machinery, and even running vehicles. What’s more, is propane not only better for the environment—it’s also great for the bottom line, especially for educational institutions, where dollars are scarce.
Compared to other heating fuels—including electricity—propane heats quickly and burns cleanly, and costs on average 2.5 times less per Btu than heating with electricity, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
That efficiency makes propane great for heating spaces—it delivers twice the heating energy than natural gas, and heats spaces more quickly and evenly than electricity. Also, propane heating equipment runs more efficiently than oil-heat equipment, requires less maintenance, and lasts longer. Whether you need to heat classrooms or dorms, propane offers clean, efficient and effective heat.
That same heating energy makes propane equally efficient at heating water, generating much more hot water at a cheaper cost per gallon. That makes propane a smart choice for commercial dishwashers in cafeteria kitchens, as well as for water heating for bathrooms and laundry rooms. Compact tankless propane water heaters can provide hot water to handwashing sinks in bathrooms and dorm kitchenettes on demand, rather than keeping huge tanks of water hot.
Professional chefs prefer gas for cooking for multiple reasons. They love the high heat and precision control they get from propane. It’s a key ingredient to turning out consistently great food. And, temperature control makes it easy to time the finish multiple different dishes at once. The high heat lets them sear and cook quickly. But it’s not just for fine dining—propane is also great for school cafeteria and dining hall kitchens. It can cost-effectively turn out large quantities of food.
You might be surprised to learn that clean-burning propane can fuel much of the landscaping equipment you use to keep school grounds and athletic fields manicured. Propane puts less wear on equipment, reducing downtime for maintenance or repairs. Propane is also extremely safe, with a very narrow range of flammability.
As hurricane season gets less predictable, and storms get stronger, reliable backup power is essential, particularly for colleges and universities with students living on campus. Propane-powered standby generators will come on automatically when the electricity goes down to keep essential buildings powered up.
Propane leaves a much smaller carbon footprint than most other sources of energy, particularly when you take into account that generating electricity is a big source of greenhouse gas emissions. Propane also doesn’t harm soil or groundwater – an important factor when it comes to determining whether a fuel is “green.”
Schools and universities are facing rising costs, and budgets for operational expenses are shrinking. Propane can help diversify your energy costs and protect you from rising electricity prices, while at the same time improving efficiency across your campus.
If you want to learn more about how propane can benefit your school or university, contact Pico’s commercial propane team: We’ll help evaluate your needs and show you all the ways propane can benefit your facilities, your student’s and the bottom line. Contact us today.