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A new study has found that using charcoal is three times worse for the environment than propane when it comes to outdoor cooking. Which means it's time to green your barbequing habits.
Not so fast, you say—tossing the charcoal briquettes into that BBQ, lighting them up, throwing a burger on?it's as classic American as the 4th of July.
I know. Charcoal's a staple of outdoor foodfests across the country (and everywhere else for that matter). But three times worse is pretty dire. Let's look at the study, from Science Daily:
The article reports that in the UK, the carbon footprint for charcoal grilling is almost three times as large as that for LPG grilling. (Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), often referred to as propane, is a mixture of mostly propane and butane).
Which is pretty massive?three times as much carbon gets emitted from burning charcoal briquettes. But why? The overwhelming factors behind the difference, notes author Eric Johnson, are that as a fuel, LPG is dramatically more efficient than charcoal in its production and considerably more efficient in cooking. Charcoal is produced by heating wood in a kiln; commercial yields of charcoal are only in the 20-35% range, i.e. most of the rest of the wood is converted to gas and emitted into the atmosphere. Yields of LPG, by contrast, are greater than 90%.
So essentially, it's a matter of efficiency; of fuel economy. A little bit of propane will get you a lot more bang for your carbon output than a bag of briquettes. So spare the air, and ditch the charcoal for your next smoky barbeque—classic though it may be.
