The Railroad Commission of Texas is the organization hosting the 2007 Propane Technology Forum here in Austin, TX. Propane is a key interest of the commission’s Alternative Fuels Research and Education Division. I spoke to Director Dan Kelly about some of the highlights of today’s featured speakers.

You can listen to my interview with Dan here:

Dan expanded on our discussion in the interview over the safety of propane fuel and pointed out the fuel tank is not only made of steel but is also a quarter-inch thick. He referenced a school bus accident in Alvin, TX where a pick-up truck ran a red light and struck a school bus running on propane fuel, hitting the propane tank dead on. He said the pick-up burned to the ground while there was no escape of gas from the bus. He added that all the children riding the bus exited safely without any instance of injury or death. Dan said industry leaders joke about the safest place to put a propane gas tank in a motor vehicle: “make it the bumper.” He said 12,000 vehicles run on propane fuel in Texas.

I also spoke with Steve Jaeger with the Alternative Fuels Research and Education Division. We discussed why the Railroad Commission of Texas feels it’s important to host the Propane Technology Forum and what he thought were some of the key presentations. We also touched on a new project that just got off the ground last month: “tri-generation” use of propane – a new propane-powered energy efficiency project that focuses on researching the capability of propane to recover waste heat to both heat water and sanitize dairy shed and equipment, and to operate an adsorption chiller.

You can listen to my interview with Steve here: