Q: Why are propane appliances more efficient than electric ones?
A: Propane generates more Btu’s than an equivalent amount of electricity, so you need much less propane to produce the same amount of heat energy. Also, clean-burning propane appliances are efficient because they waste very little fuel in the combustion process. On the other hand, about two-thirds of the energy used by a power plant to generate and transmit electricity is wasted.
Let’s look at water heaters as one example: Propane water heaters can produce about twice as much hot water as an electric unit in the same amount of time. Yet a propane water heater generally costs 30% less to operate — 60% less if you use a propane tankless model, which can provide a virtually endless supply of hot water.