The State of Energy

At the Nashville Southeast propane show in late April in Nashville Tennessee, my friend and colleague Tom Clark from the Rocky Mountain Propane Gas Association (rmpropane.org) was a few booths down from me.

Tom and his friend and colleague Rand Dewitt had a booth featuring their popular podcast series The State of Energy, known as “TSOE” (thestateofenergy.com).

I first came to know Tom and TSOE back in 2018.  He was the then-new Executive for the Rocky Mountain Propane Gas Association. I was the executive  for the New York Propane Gas Association.

In 2020 and 2021 I was a founding board member of the Virtual Propane Expo and we were fortunate to have TSOE as a regularly featured live session.

At the Nashville Southeast Propane Show, Tom and Rand had a lot going on in the booth. Their colorful TSOE backdrop with the backlit green light was a draw. When they were not conducting live sessions, there seemed to be someone visiting them most of the time.

Interviews during the show with special guests from around the world included the following people and organizations:

Allison Richardson of the Montana Energy Alliance https://www.meapropane.com/ speaking about Propane Scholarships offered by RMPGA. Allison’s daughter was a RMPA Scholarship recipient. RMPA scholarships are available to children of propane professionals in the RMPROPANE.org 4-state association. The funds are raised during an annual cornhole tournament and awarded to 4 young adults each year.

Perry Rubin of ALP Generators discussed small portable all-propane generators, their applications, ease of installation, ease of use and growing popularity.

Twana Akin and Andrea Pavon of National Propane Gas Association reviewed Entry Level Driver training programs from NPGA. 

Juan Pablo Martinez of Spice Gas of Grenada briefed listeners on Caribbean propane use, issues associated with the island’s historical use of dirty diesel electric power plants, and dirty wood burning for cooking and water heating, and how propane is mitigating emission problems there.

Chandler Robertson of Thermotane Propane of Florida explained how Propane warms Zoo animals including rhinos, elephants and giraffes.

Chris Hanson and Pat Hyland of the PERC Learning center brought everyone up to speed on the latest online training offered by PERC via propane.com.

NPGA’s Michael Baker, Vice President of Federal Legislative Affairs, talked about infrastructure investment and the “Jobs Act.” 

TSOE will be participating in a number of shows in 2022, including the Western Propane Gas show in Reno, Nevada.   Tom and Rand record a new episode each week that is broadcast on 5 talk radio stations and on all major podcast services. The show is  listened to in 52 countries and over 1,000 cities. TSOE is the most popular propane podcast in the world, and ranked in the top 5% of all podcasts.

Get to know TSOE at thestateofenergy.com. Reach Tom, who is based in Ogden, Utah, at tom@rmpropane.com or call 801-725-1925. — Shane Sweet

Shane Sweet is principal of Shane Sweet LLC, a Vermont-based energy consulting firm to the propane, heating oil and motor fuel sectors. The company represents select products and services, works with trade associations, and, in April 2020, co-founded VirtualPropaneExpo. com. In addition to 15 years in the retail oil and propane business, Sweet served as the executive for the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, the New England Fuel Institute (now the National Energy & Fuels Institute) and the New York Propane Gas Association. Sweet can be reached at shanemsweet@gmail.com.

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