Green BBQ
The Economist cites a comparison of the carbon footprints of barbecueing with charcoal vs. propane. It turns out that charcoal puts about 3 times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as propane. That sounds about right to me. You can turn the gas on when you’re ready to cook, and turn it off when you’re done. Charcoal takes a while to get going, and it doesn’t shut off.
But wait… charcoal is renewable. Charcoal is sustainable. Propane is a non-renewable fossil fuel. Sustainable = good, right?
It turns out that when a carbon dioxide molecule reflects an infrared photon back to earth (the greenhouse effect), it doesn’t matter whether the carbon dioxide came from a sustainable source. The molecule doesn’t remember where it came from and behave differently. It just reflects the photon.
OK, this is just grilling in the back yard, but there are misguided people who go off the electric grid as a matter of principle and use wood stoves for heating and cooking. They may be contributing to global warming.