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Blue Star Gas opens autogas station at Seattle airport

September 8, 2015 By    
Blue Star Gas new station in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport provides autogas to fleet

Blue Star Gas’ Alliance AutoGas station at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Propane autogas stations don’t open at major U.S. airports every day, but Blue Star Gas recently opened one at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

According to Blue Star Gas, autogas will be the only fuel offered at the station. The station will be used to help nearby hotel fleets that run on autogas.

“We realized that not all hotels can support their own fueling infrastructure, so we got involved and built the station at the airport,” says Darren Engle, director of government relations for Blue Star Gas.

Blue Star Gas collaborated with Alliance AutoGas and Western Washington Clean Cities, a nonprofit that promotes alternative fuels, to host an open house for the public at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport station. The event educated the public on autogas, conversions and the station.

Blue Star Gas has more than 45 autogas stations in the Western U.S.

Blue Star Gas has more than 45 autogas stations in the Western U.S.

Jeff Stewart, president of Blue Star Gas, says the new Seattle station represents how the company has diversified its business over the past few years. Stewart says he “woke up” to the need to diversify as a propane marketer after attending a meeting with the National Propane Gas Association’s Benchmarking Council about seven years ago. The council analyzed gallon sales data between 2000 and 2008 and realized domestic consumption of propane was declining at a rate of about 23 percent throughout that time period.

“I would say this was a gradual but very material decrease,” Stewart says. “Everybody acknowledges this problem, but often I hear companies say they plan to ‘grow their way out of it’ and stick to the home heating market. Growing your way out and taking competitors’ home heating customers is one approach to survive, but that approach masks the actual decrease of the heat load.”

While home heating fuel is still a significant part of Blue Star Gas, Stewart estimates about 18 percent of the company’s annual sales derives from autogas. The company converted about half of its fleet of 110 vehicles to autogas as part of its diversification initiative, and it operates more than 45 public propane-fueling stations in the United States.

As an Alliance AutoGas partner, the company also converts vehicles and mowers.

 

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