Charcoal or gas barbecue?
Home » Magazine » Good, issue 4 » Charcoal or gas barbecue?Summertime, and the grillin’ is easy … but which barbie burns better?
Sometimes going back to the older, slower way of doing things is the most environmentally friendly option … and sometimes it’s not. That smoky, slightly burned flavour of a charcoal barbecue might be the traditionalist’s favourite—but the carbon monoxide it produces is a little harder to swallow.
Charcoal briquettes release 105 times more carbon monoxide per unit of energy than LPG, says the US Environmental Protection Agency. Not only that, charcoal briquettes produce three times the carbon emissions of natural gas, as well as smog-causing particulates, soot and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), blamed for causing anything from allergies to cancer.
Most charcoal briquettes sold in New Zealand are made from either sawdust or coal. Like gas, coal is a non-renewable fossil fuel, and burning it releases permanently sequestered carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere—lots of it. Burning coal releases twice as much carbon dioxide as the equivalent amount of gas.
Briquettes made from sawdust—a renewable, carbon-neutral waste product—might seem like a better option, but they are hugely energy-intensive to produce and include a whole heap of additives (common ingredients are coal dust, borax, sodium nitrate and a hydrocarbon solvent to help them ignite). It’s also impossible for us consumers to tell where the sawdust comes from. Much is sourced from Borneo, where it is yet another income stream for illegal rainforest logging operations.
Made from whole pieces of wood, lump charcoal has fewer additives than briquettes but check your source: some charcoal comes from illegally logged tropical hardwood forests. Lump charcoal is also polluting to make, which is why many New Zealand manufacturers have sent production (and their pollution) offshore.
Waste is another issue. Ash from additive-free lump charcoal can be used by gardeners who know their stuff, but it’s usually best to throw away charcoal remains, especially from chemical-heavy briquettes. Metal gas bottles, on the other hand, are forever refillable (just remember get them pressure tested every ten years).
Sorry, traditionalists: gas is the way to go. Even though gas is a non-renewable fuel, it burns clean and produces half the carbon emissions of charcoal—and it’s zero waste. Add a few wood chips to the smoker box and you might almost replicate the flavour of a charcoal barbecue.
But whatever you use to heat your grill, the biggest difference of all is made by what you put on it. Cooking less meat will shrink your carbon footprint more than your method of cooking. Try sliced eggplant, Portobello mushrooms and colourful peppers, make sure any meat is free-range and organic, and check out Forest and Bird’s Best Fish Guide (www.forestandbird.org.nz) for the most sustainable fish choices.
Finally, don’t ruin all your good intentions by dishing up onto disposable plates. If you hate doing dishes or you’re paranoid about your precious plates, go for compostable plates and cutlery. Potatopak potato starch plates come in a range of bright colours and they’re made in New Zealand (www.potatoplates.com). Crack open a can of beer (good.net.nz/beer) and enjoy the taste of summer.
www.woodsmoked.co.nz