LPG Energy: Supporting growth in the off-grid leisure industry

Monday 6th November 2017

Later this week I will be speaking at the Holiday Park & Resort Innovation Show at the NEC in Birmingham.

The LPG industry has long been a keen supporter of the leisure industry. Whether you run a holiday park, pub, restaurant, hotel, or spa, reliable, clean energy plays a vital role in supporting all-year round success for your business. Delivering hot showers, perfectly cooked food and bubbling jacuzzis, as well as fuel for heating and cooking to park homes and caravans, reliable and affordable energy is an essential element in ensuring resort owners, large and small, can offer the perfect experience to their guests. If your facilities are located off the gas grid however, fuel becomes a much more challenging issue. 

That's where LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas, comes into its own. A low carbon fuel, it has been used in bulk tanks and portable cylinders to fuel off gas grid businesses for decades, but is increasing in popularity and there are a number of reasons why this is happening.

1.    It's reliable and it looks good

LPG benefits from a well-established delivery infrastructure whichever corner of the country your business is in. For hospitality businesses that have high energy needs to satisfy their guests, bulk tanks can now be discretely buried to keep panoramas perfect. Today, the latest technologies mean that telemetry automatically alerts the supplier when tanks need to be topped up, helping to ensure that you never run out. As a portable fuel, available in different sized cylinders, it can be delivered direct to park homes, lodges and caravans, no matter how remote their location. 

2.    It's clean and environmentally friendly

Environmentally-friendly practices have become a key part of the leisure sector as sustainable tourism rises up the agenda, and also because they are proven to have a positive impact on the bottom line.

LPG offers almost exactly the same functionality as natural gas, but yields 12% less CO2 than oil. Cooking on gas has always been popular, but as LPG works well with some of the most advanced energy efficient heating technology available, it also enables managers to make a real impact on cost and carbon savings no matter how demanding their energy needs; and importantly, without compromising on the comfort of guests.

3.    The energy landscape is changing

In our response to the Government's Clean Growth Strategy and our future pathways document Gas for Off Grid Britain, we make it clear that LPG has a vital role to play in helping to decarbonise heat in rural areas, and perhaps most importantly, it can do so today.

From the rise of renewables to the Government's strategy to decarbonise and clean up the energy industry, we are seeing more change in the energy sector than ever before. Business owners will need to future proof their energy systems by investing carefully in low carbon solutions.  

Keeping guests happy is the number one priority for any holiday establishment and with staycations on the rise, LPG gives owners and operators the peace of mind they need, leaving them to focus on delivering a fabulous customer experience.

By Rob Shuttleworth, UKLPG Chief Executive

The trade association for the LPG and bioLPG industry in the UK