U-Haul has purchased its first million gallons of renewable propane, which is available to customers at U-Haul autogas facilities across Southern California. U-Haul, the largest retailer of propane in the US, teamed with national distributor Suburban Propane Partners, L.P., to supply the fuel. Suburban Propane also recently invested in renewable DME provider Oberon Fuels. (Earlier post.)

U-Haul plans for this product offering to be ongoing as it continues to pursue sustainable solutions.

While U-Haul is paying a premium for this product, we have chosen to absorb this cost so our customers will benefit the environment at no additional charge. Californians can feel even better about fueling with propane in the growing autogas sector.

—John Barnett, U-Haul propane program manager

Renewable propane is derived from renewable sources such as beef fats, vegetable oils, grease residue and other biomass feedstocks. It features a lower carbon intensity than traditional propane while providing similar performance metrics. Renewable propane also has one of the lowest carbon intensity scores compared to gasoline, diesel and compressed natural gas, thus reducing harmful contributors to greenhouse gases.

This arrangement, along with our recent investment in Oberon Fuels, are part of our continued commitment to developing innovative solutions to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint, particularly at a time when so many states have established aggressive carbon reduction targets over the next few decades.

—Nandini Sankara, Suburban Propane spokesperson. “

This initial U-Haul purchase and customer offering of renewable propane has the effect of eliminating 5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, according to the Western Propane Gas Association.

U-Haul began selling propane in 1984 and became the largest US retailer by 1987. Today, U-Haul safely supplies propane to thousands of customers daily across the US and Canada.