Sign up for
news & specials:
FYI

To Tailgate or not to Tailgate – like it’s even a question!

Does face paint and the smell of some barbeque mixed with sweet victory sound familiar to you? If so, you are probably one of the 240 million people in the United States that tailgate!

Tailgating can be traced back to the first Battle of Bull Run in 1861 where civilians traveled to witness the event, while enjoying picnic baskets full of food. Five years later, Texans created the chuckwagon to feed travelers, a truck with a grill in the back, which happened to be perfect for the evolving brotherhood of tailgaters. Add in some team spirit, some adult “spirits” and game of cornhole and you’ve got 80% of the U.S. population’s pastime.

Hungry fans, getting together with friends for fun and some food before the game, create $35 billion in food and beverage sales. 78% of them use a grill to cook.  Now you’re probably wondering where the best spots are to start the game day festivities in advance.

For football fans, the top five tailgating stadiums are:

Posted in AmeriGas Cylinder Exchange | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q&A from LP Gas with Jerry Sheridan AmeriGas’ president and CEO

Jerry Sheridan, AmeriGas President & CEO

See what the “New AmeriGas” means to our president and CEO, Jerry Sheridan and more in this interview conducted by LP Gas Magazine Editor in Chief Brian Richesson in their current issue:

AMERIGAS-HERITAGE PROPANE

Jerry Sheridan was named president and CEO of Valley Forge, Pa.-based AmeriGas in March 2012, following the retirement of Gene Bissell and about two months after the nation’s largest propane retail operation closed on the Heritage Propane deal. He came to AmeriGas in 2005, having held vice president, CFO and COO positions. Here are a few things he had to say about the merger:

Was the timing of these large-scale acquisitions just coincidence or does it say something more about the state of the propane industry that the largest retailers are consolidating?

Sheridan: The propane industry in general has been under pressure – the decrease in housing starts and high propane prices in recent years have driven customer conservation. Also, in parts of the Southeast, there’s been an increased move toward electricity among builders and homeowners, and space heaters have become more prevalent. As a result, the volume of the entire industry has been under pressure. It’s such a fragmented industry, with over 3,000 competitors. In any particular town, there could be four, five, eight, even 10 competitors. As a result, it’s an industry that is perfect for a roll-up strategy – that’s how all of the big MLPs have been built – so it’s only natural that consolidation will continue. The fact that a couple of big deals got done recently is just a logical extension of that trend.

AmeriGas closed the deal just more than a year ago. Since the acquisition, we have seen references to the “New AmeriGas.” What are the biggest differences within the company?

Posted in AmeriGas Propane, News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Commercial Landscaping Company Saves 30-35% Annual Maintenance Costs with Propane

EarthWorks Inc., a commercial landscaping company based in Dallas, converted its lawn equipment fleet to propane autogas and expects to save between 30-35% on annual maintenance costs and $41,600 in annual fuel cost savings running on the alternative fuel.

“We have been thrilled with converting our lawn equipment fleet to propane autogas,” said Chris Lee, president of EarthWorks. “The biggest benefit isn’t even the more affordable fuel; it’s that our maintenance and repair costs have decreased dramatically. Propane is so much cleaner and so much easier on our machines that I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself.”

EarthWorks’ fleet includes 20 36-inch mowers from Toro and Scag, and 24 52-inch mowers from Toro , Scag and Exmark. The company uses an estimated 40,000 gallons of propane per year and mows 31.5 million square feet of turf during the growing season.

Incentives & Rebates

“In some cases initially the rebates offset the full cost of conversion so we were able to try propane on several of our units with very minimal investment on our part,” Lee explains.

EarthWorks saved $15,000 in incentives through a state and national program administered by the Propane Council of Texas that’s available to landscapers switching to autogas. Lee says that “working with Metro Lawn helped us with the entire process, including the rebates.”

Posted in Autogas and Clean Fuels, Commercial Propane, Metro Lawn | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ensure that your guests ‘Sleep Tight, and Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite!’

(Photo courtesy of www.buildwithpropane.com)

The Cicadas are coming this Spring and there is nothing we can do about it. But bedbugs, that’s a different story. Unlike Cicadas that only surface once every seventeen years,  bedbugs are a constant threat, infesting homes and businesses by hiding and reproducing in small crevices, such as mattress seams and the spaces around baseboards. Such situations concern owners and operators of hotels, apartment buildings, college dormitories/residential halls, and hospitals. We have a propane solution! PERC (Propane Education and Research Council) is offering a propane heat and power incentive to assist you in the bedbugs fight.  Referred to as the Bedbug Heat Treatment System, it is unlike other bedbug control methods that use pesticides or steam, heat-based solutions seek to treat the entire space or building, not just sleeping areas.

Here are some fast facts about propane-powered bedbug control: Thermal remediation uses heat instead of chemicals to control bedbug infestations. Chemical treatments can be harmful to human health, among other things, whereas thermal remediation provides safe, environmentally friendly way to control the infestation.

Posted in Commercial Propane, Hospitality | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

AmeriGas Ultimate Warriors Raise Funds for St. Jude

When they’re not behind the wheel of a truck or serving customers in our offices, our employees love to be a part of supporting events in their local communities.

On Saturday, April 13, Area Director Mike Sonntag and Account Manager Zach Crawford, along with four of their friends, took to the mud in a Warrior Dash held in Fairburn, GA, to raise awareness and support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

AmeriGas employees Mike Sonntag and Zach Crawford

The AmeriGas and Friends “Ultimate Warriors” team ran through mud pits, leapt over fire and scaled walls in the event, with the team raising more than $1,800 for St. Jude.

Posted in Events | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Agricultural Applications of Propane: Grain Drying

The agricultural applications of propane are numerous. The Propane Education & Research Council points out that propane is used on 865,000 U.S. farms for irrigation pumps, grain dryers, standby generators, and other farm equipment.  In our Agricultural Applications of Propane series, we will take a look at the role of propane in the following: tobacco curing, grain drying, fruit drying and crop drying. Today, let’s look into how propane factors into grain drying.

Grain drying is now an integral part of the farming operation, and propane is most often used to fuel heated-air drying systems because it is portable, can be easily stored, and is readily accessible in rural areas where natural gas is unavailable. And unlike fuel oil or kerosene, propane will not leak and contaminate the grain.

Propane-fueled grain dryers are capable of drying virtually any type of grain. They are available as either batch dryers (where grain is dried in batches ranging from 80 to 1,000 bushel) or continuous flow dryers (wet grain is fed into the dryer in a steady stream). The average fuel consumption of heated-air corn dryers is about 0.02 gallons of propane per bushel per percentage point of moisture removed.

Posted in Agriculture | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Update on the Alternative Fuel Tax Credit

At the beginning of April, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) clarified and extended the deadline for the alternative fuel tax credit to July 1.  At issue was that the due date for filing claims for payments related to alternative fuel (which includes propane) had already passed by the date that tax credits were extended by Congress.  The tax credits were retroactively extended from December 31, 2011 with the American Taxpayer Relief Act (also known as the “fiscal cliff” legislation) on January 2, 2013.

The $0.50 per gallon tax credit for propane and other alternative fuels are still set to expire at the end of this year on December 31, 2013.  This notice from the IRS just extends the time to claim retroactive credits until July 1.

To read more about propane users can claim the $0.50 per gallon tax credit for forklifts, vehicle fleets, and lawnmowers, please check out:

Posted in Autogas and Clean Fuels, Commercial Propane, Forklift, Metro Lawn | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Man Meets Grill.

“It takes just one summer season to turn a caveman into an outdoor chef in full 1955 regalia. A man takes over with a few more tools than a primitive hunter: a fire, a stick or an old fork, some meat. After one bite of a frankfurter … he is hooked as a cook.””

– Look magazine, July 12, 1955

The first outdoor gas grill. Photo Courtesy of MHP Outdoor Grills

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. has a great exhibit that opened last November called Food: Transforming the American Table, 1950-2000. On the menu of topics are changes in food production and processing, who cooks and why, where and when meals are consumed and what people know (or think they know) about what is good for them. Of course, the most interesting exhibit to an AmeriGas employee would have to be the Backyard Cookout, exploring the origins of grilling with the suburban movement and traveled palates!

After World War II,

Posted in AmeriGas Cylinder Exchange | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Earth Day, Every Day

(Photo courtesy of Google images)

Earth Day is observed on April 22nd every year. It is a day to show support to protect our environment. To date, it is recognized in over 192 countries and the goal is to promote awareness, get involved in community projects, or more personally, do something to help the environment. For example, planting new trees, recycling more materials, or installing solar panels for your home.

Propane was a “green” fuel before going green was a movement. Propane is an approved, clean fuel listed in the 1990 Clean Air Act as well as the National Energy Policy Act of 1992. It contributes  to the idea behind Earth Day, every day.

Propane assists many aspects of residential, commercial, fleets and  agricultural areas:

  • More than 14 million families use propane to fuel their furnaces, water heaters, air conditioners, outdoor grills, fire places, dryers and range tops.
  • Many choose this clean-burning fuel, autogas, for bus, taxi, delivery and other fleets to minimize air pollution in metropolitan areas.

Posted in AmeriGas Propane, Events, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment