NEW PRODUCTS Smart green choices
Outdoor Cooking The KitchenAid KFRU368VSS grill provides
versatile cooking options with two 22.5K BTU main burners, a 23K BTU sear burner, rotisserie burner and kit, a smoker box, and two 18K BTU side burners. The Flame Time System provides fuel level and timer feedback and an automatic grill shutoff function. It is 36” wide and offers 119K total BTUs.
www.kitchenaid.com
coming from each source. It’s one of the cleanest burning fossil fuels, with emissions roughly equal to those of natural gas, and is often touted as “green” alternative to gasoline, heating oil, and electricity from coal-fired generating plants.
When propane is used to fuel cars
and trucks, the exhaust puts 20% less nitrogen oxide and as much as 60% less carbon monoxide into the air than that of gasoline or diesel fuel. When compared to appliances run on coal-generated electricity, a propane appliance is responsible for significantly fewer acid-rain producing contaminants. And because propane is not considered a soil or water contaminant, the placement of propane tanks is not subject to Environmental Protection Agency oversight, although local laws still apply. Where propane rules in the home
Propane’s Place
Propane is clean burning, but it’s still tied to the petroleum industry. By Green Builder staff
Of the 101.5 million U.S. households, 12.6 million use some type of propane-fired device, according to the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC). While the propane-fired outdoor grill is the most familiar of these products, it’s just one of many. A range of natural gas appliances—clothes dryers,
home heating systems, hot water heaters, and backup electrical generators, to name a few—can be converted to propane. In fact, PERC claims that more than 6 million households relied on propane for primary home heating in 2007, while ver 4 million used it for water heating. There are even propane conversion kits for pickup trucks. Propane is a by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, with about the same amount
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is in outdoor cooking. While some people prefer the taste of food cooked over charcoal, a propane grill offers the advantage of more precise temperature control. And because a propane grill need not be near a gas outlet, it can be
PROPANE AND FLOODS The Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association
www.gamanet.org warns that all flood-damaged
plumbing, heating, cooling, and electrical appliances and related systems should be replaced rather than repaired. “Controls damaged by flood water are extremely dangerous,” notes GAMA President Evan R. Gaddis. “Attempts to use equipment with defective gas or oil control devices can result in fires, flashbacks
or explosions. And in the case of electric appliances, the result can be injury or even death from a powerful electric shock.” The GAMA official noted that devices at risk include water heaters, furnaces, boilers, room heaters and air conditioners. GAMA notes that flood damaged appliances and systems may appear to be operable but will
deteriorate over time. “It may take a week, a month, or even a year, but once any control has been under water it presents
a serious
hazard...fire or explosion in the case of gas controls, fire or shock in the case of electric equipment,” the association notes in its September press release.
September 2010 GreenBuilder
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