Farmers use propane to dry crops, brood chickens, power tractors, and warm greenhouses. Certain industries find propane well-suited to their special needs. Metal workers use small propane tanks to fuel their cutting torches and other equipment. Portable propane heaters give construction and road workers warmth in cold weather. Propane heaters at construction sites are used to dry concrete, plaster, and fuel pitch.
Propane also heats asphalt for highway construction and repairs.
The United States uses more propane gas than any other country in the world. Propane supplies one percent of our total energy needs and ranks as the seventh most important source of energy in the country today, just after hydroelectric power and biomass. Nearly 90 percent of the propane used in this country is produced in the United States. The other 10 percent is imported from Canada, Venezuela, and Middle Eastern countries. Taxicab companies, government agencies, and school districts often use propane, instead of gasoline, to fuel their fleets of vehicles.