Lee Stockwell and Jim Bethel: Thank you for your welcome. Glad to be part of this.
In regards to the comment by The Great Oz, right on! A couple of things I want to mention about when LPG makes sense, when costs - right now anyway - are comparable to gasoline.
1. In Europe, and other parts of the world where gasoline is much more expensive than in the States (my son lives in Sweden and pays over $8/gallon), LPG and CNG are very desirable alternatives to gasoline (or "petrol"). Thus many commercial vans and trucks use that. Having an LPG TM is not only less costly to operate, but also doesn't require two separate fuel tanks.
Sapphire sells TMs in Europe, Australia and other places, thus there is a demand already. Likewise, in the U.S. there are cleaning firms that use alternative fuels in their vehicles, so purchasing a new TM that runs off the same fuel reservoir, makes sense.
2. Back in the 90's I visited two high-rise facilities - one in the States and one in Canada. One was 26 stories tall. They both had solution and vacuum plumbing built into the structures, with access to quick connects and vacuum ports on every floor. The TMs were located in the basement of the facilities and were powered by LPG. There are many more such facilities in the States and overseas. Often building codes specify LPG, and prohibit on-site storage of gasoline, even though both are flammable.
Like everyone else, I hope that the glut of natural gas that oil companies have more recently found ways to extract, with minimal environmental impact, will eventually make LPG the low-cost fuel of choice for vehicles and TMs. In the meantime, there are quite a few applications that prefer or require LPG, and
Sapphire Scientific is dedicated to serving that need.
