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BPN Staff

Compiled by BPN Staff

 

  • Products

    PERC’s Updated One-Stop Website For Programs, Products and Information

    By Courtney Gendron… The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) recently consolidated the Propane Marketing Resource Catalog (Propane MaRC) into the PERC website, www.propanecouncil.org, to provide a one-stop shop for marketers to find information and materials. Product CatalogIn the Product Catalog section of the website you will find products developed by the council with input from propane professionals. Many are free to download, including materials designed to help you get the most value out of the national Proudly Propane Clean American Energy campaign. You’ll also find safety & training programs, and resources for your employees and customers to ensure the safe and efficient use of propane. www.propanecouncil.org/productcatalog/ One product that might be useful during this time of the year as the winter season begins for...

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  • Safety

    Seminar Attendees Learn Various Aspects of Propane Safety

    The Targa Resources Safety Seminars session in Southern California, Sept. 2016, covered numerous aspects of propane safety, including the importance of written bulk plant operating procedures and of monthly inspections of emergency shut-down systems. Propane company employees from California, Arizona, and other states were in attendance at the event. Targa Resources conducts its safety seminars every three years at 14 locations nationwide. This year’s seminars kicked off in Chattanooga, Tenn. and moved on to Greenville, Miss.; Dallas; and Concord, Calif. before the Long Beach meeting. The sessions in Long Beach covered various aspects of propane safety, including general propane safety, material safety data sheets, odorant, and proper incident investigation and reporting. Don Tomiello, director of terminal operations for Targa Resources, spoke on the topic of...

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  • Feature Articles

    Propane Council Releases New Propane Bus Video

    WASHINGTON (November 14, 2016) – A new video has joined the Propane Education & Research Council’s popular online Straight Talk video series, which highlights schools, organizations, and businesses that have had success using propane to reduce budgets and emissions. The new video showcases Northside Independent School District, in San Antonio, Texas. “Northside ISD saves $1.3 million each year on fuel and maintenance costs with their propane buses compared to their diesel bus fleet, which allows the district to keep more of its annual budget where it belongs — in the classroom for student-based programming,” said Mike Taylor, director of autogas business development for PERC. “Northside’s success is a great model for other schools looking for ways to save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and increase...

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  • Feature Articles

    Alt Fuel Vehicle Initiative Supported by Alliance AutoGas’ Propane-Powered Vehicles

    Swannanoa, NC (November 14, 2016) – The Clean Cities Southeast AFV Demonstration Initiative (SADI) brought its multi-fuel message to Clinton, Tenn., last week. The event was located where the Anderson County government resides in Tennessee, a town north of Knoxville. The multi-state vehicle demonstration program, complete with vehicles, driver education, and marketing strategies, incorporates partners such as Alliance AutoGas, ICOM, Mainstay Fuel Technologies, Penske, and others. Clean Cities and Fuels Coalitions throughout South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee are working with partners to provide opportunities for fleets to experience and demo a wide range of alternative fuel vehicles in new and existing industry fleet sectors. Alliance AutoGas (www.allianceautogas.com) provided a Ford Transit Van to the SADI demonstration, as well as a Ford F-150 and an...

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  • Technology

    Technology Update 2016

    Technology is constantly advancing. New, improved, and innovative products provide benefits for marketers to ensure that businesses are run in the most productive and efficient manner. TANK MONITORS: SKYBITZ offers wireless remote tank monitoring, asset tracking, and data reporting through a single-source combination of telemetry hardware, sensors, and software application that continuously delivers tank data. Utilizing this information will help to eliminate product run-outs and improve route scheduling. The monitor provides information from tanks in the yard or hundreds of miles away. SkyBitz, formerly known as TankLink, has recently introduced a new managed services program that enables its customers to pay a single monthly fee instead of purchasing the equipment upfront. The users can set up the SMARTank Level and Analytics portal to give location...

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  • Technology

    Technology Used for the Best Delivery and Supply Outcomes

    By David Kidd… As the propane industry continues to expand and evolve, the technology designed to enable better information gathering and customer service follows suit. In this rapidly transforming environment, propane delivery companies are starting to adapt in an effort to better serve their customers and provide products in a more effective and trackable way. Technical advances are made each year to accommodate the evolution of the propane industry. New top-notch technologies continue to surface, with many providing user-friendly interfaces. Staying on top of demand in today’s distribution chain is challenging. Stock-outs can be costly and lead to lost business. In addition, transportation expenses and delivery logistics can be hard to manage, particularly around emergency deliveries. Monitors on tanks can be inconsistent and unreliable, with...

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  • Feature Articles

    CETP E-Learning Turns 10!

    (By John Kamps, owner of Kamps Propane, Manteca, Calif.) Ten years ago you would have never imagined having a phone in your pocket that can send an email, store all of your music, and doesn’t have to be flipped shut to end a call. Technology moves us forward and allows information to be more readily available. And just like mobile phone technology has evolved over the past 10 years, so has training for the propane industry. In early 2000, I started to think about technology that could help train my employees — and those of other propane marketers — that didn’t rely solely on sending them to a far-away classroom or depending on a class schedule that wasn’t always convenient. My goal was to maintain a high level of...

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  • Training

    Oregon Community College Pairs Alternative Fuel Training With Jobs

    Oregon’s Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) has just completed another phase of its Advanced Transportation Technology Center (ATTC), which hosts programs that train technicians to install, maintain, and repair vehicles fueled by alternative energies such as propane. Nearly 300 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October marking the completion of the center’s second phase and the opening of the Innovation Center and Heavy Transportation building, a 37,000-sq-ft space that will be used to train technicians to work on heavy equipment. Among the guests were U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, Oregon lawmakers who have been strong supporters of Linn-Benton Community College’s alternative fuel training efforts. The college’s Heavy Transportation Program covers all aspects of diesel, truck, and forestry equipment, in addition to training...

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  • Feature Articles

    EPA Grants Baton Rouge Schools $773,000 to Replace Diesel Buses With Cleaner-burning Propane

    BATON ROUGE, La. (Nov. 7, 2016) – The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Clean Diesel Funding Assistance Program has awarded the East Baton Rouge Parish school system a grant of $773,000 to replace 30 of its diesel school buses over the next two years, with less polluting, more environmentally-friendly propane-powered school buses. According to the EPA, school buses travel about four billion miles each year, providing the safest transportation to and from school for more than 25 million American children every day. However, diesel exhaust from these buses has a negative impact on human health, especially for children who have a faster breathing rate than adults and whose lungs are not yet fully developed. While new buses must meet EPA’s tougher emission standards, many older...

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  • Feature Articles

    National Federal Highway ‘Alternative Fuel Corridor’ To Span 35 States

    WASHINGTON, DC (Nov. 4, 2016) – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has announced 55 routes that will serve as the basis for a national network of “alternative fuel” corridors spanning 35 states. Though the network is nearly 85,000 miles long, more miles will be added in the future to accommodate propane autogas, electric, hydrogen, and natural gas vehicles as additional fueling and charging stations are built. “Alternative fuels and electric vehicles will play an integral part in the future of America’s transportation system,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We have a duty to help drivers identify routes that will help them refuel and recharge those vehicles and designating these corridors on our highways is a first step.” Those corridors designated...

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