Its almost (gag, cough) barbecue season...
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 04.16.06
Photo by Rick Browne, Grill "Master of the Universe"
Ah, Spring is here and it is time to get out the barbie, lock up the vegans and throw on a steak. Not good for the heart, but how is it for the environment? In the US, 63% of backyard BBQ's are fired with briquettes, manufactured by cooking waste timber, sawdust and whatever else in near-airless conditions for a week, mix cornstarch to bind and lighter fluid to start easily, press into moulds and bake some more. Result: 105 times more carbon monoxide than burning propane and lots of harmful VOC's. However propane is a fossil fuel and a net contributor to atmospheric CO2 levels. Real charcoal is said to be "carbon neutral" but much is shipped from abroad (at least to the UK where this article is sourced) so the Guardian suggests locally made charcoal culled from thinnings and fallen trees and making it traditionally, the old english art of "coppicing" -harvesting fuel from trees without destroying them. There are a number of UK sources including the green empire at Bioregional . In the States, we found the ::Cowboy Charcoal Company. Read more in ::the Guardian although just writing this makes us want to run off to the local Raw Food Bar.
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What makes Cowboy Charcoal green? I understand they make hardwood chunk instead of briquets. I've been using chunk for some time (only because it burns cleaner) but it would seem to have several issues of note here.
First, it's still slow growth hardwood.
And second, outdoor BBQ's are still not fired at high enough temperatures to burn the fuel cleanly.
Come one, now we need "sustainable" cookouts?!?
Why not?
Absotutely!
People in most of the world 'cook out' everyday, using wood, or coal or cow dung (seriously). I'm sure the contribution to global pollution is significant.
Any kind of practical option is worth hearing about.
Good idea .are still not fired at high enough temperatures to burn the fuel cleanly.
Make Magazine has an artile (online) showing how you can make your own charcoal!
Check out their site
makezine
Pretty much right on, but from this environmental forester's perspective this seems a bit subjective. You made using waste wood for fuel sound like a crime rather than environmentally beneficial use of waste. Obviously not all briquettes are impregnated with lighter fluid (yuck). Coppicing is good but no panacea: the result is a productive anthropogenic stand of crop trees rather than a forest. Wood from any sustainably managed forest would work fine. Deforestation in the US is due to sprawl, not tree harvesting.
i am interested in diy version of solar powered bbq. is there anything out there. also interested in a diy way to reuse the bath water for watering plants etc. can anyone help..