Fast Food Cooking Worse for Air Than All the Trucks on the Road
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.27.06
Here is a great statistic to bite into: Cooking four normal sized hamburgers in a fast food joint emits the same amount of VOC's (volatile organic compounds) as driving a current model car for 1,000 miles. (Engelhard) in Hong Kong, "The 9,000 restaurants in HK also contribute to fine particulates and volatile organic substances. Other components of fumes are oils, fats, aliphatic hydrocarbons, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons, aromatic amines, aldehydes and elemental carbon." (read study here) In New Jersey, 16,000 restaurants release 2,226 tons of particulates, more than all of the heavy diesel vehicles in the state (1,329 tons, read study here) In the Bay area of California, they will soon require emission control on all chain-driven commercial grills. (report here) So just like your cars, all restaurants in the Bay area will be equipped with catalytic converters to reduce particulates and VOC's, and we should demand it everywhere else.
According to manufacturer Engelhard, Chain-driven charbroilers and rapid-cook technology used in many fast food restaurants rely on high temperatures to cook meat quickly, but they also generate large amounts of smoke and odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including formaldehyde and acetaldehyde.""In addition to their impact on air quality, smoke and odors in restaurant kitchens can cause irritation and discomfort for employees," said Stan Mack, Engelhard's commercial manager for stationary-source emission systems. "For these reasons, emission control has become an important part of cooking-process design." ::Gallonletter
How does this compare with driving a diesel fueled with WVO/UCO?
I know this is off topic, but one of the eco folks you should feature is my friend Richard Factor. He developed an uninterruptible power source using his Toyota Prius. Wired and the New York Times ran pieces on him. You can find his project here: http://www.priups.com/riklblog/
wow
wewantutopia: Because some of the emissions of the diesel are not recaptured in the carbon cycle, and because you're relying on the WVO from the restaurant, your emissions are then even worse.
It's as I've been saying for years: Move to a place where you can use transit and support the development of electric rail systems. Use a bicycle. Only 8% of the world uses a car - get out of that statistic.
wewantutopia: Because some of the emissions of the diesel are not recaptured in the carbon cycle, and because you're relying on the WVO from the restaurant, your emissions are then even worse.
It's as I've been saying for years: Move to a place where you can use transit and support the development of electric rail systems. Use a bicycle. Only 8% of the world uses a car - get out of that statistic.
Maybe everybody should stop eating! Then we'll save the planet!
I think the idea is to eat less deep-fried and grilled food, especially in places that use cheap hydrogenated cooking oil.
I've been wondering what can be done to reduce pollution form restaurants. There are a few restaurants I can see from my window that are nearly constantly spewing blue smoke from their vents. I'm glad to know there are systems to clean up the exhaust... I just wish it would be implemented here in Washington.
Someone submited this story to digg.com and its now on the front page. :7)
Link
moonbats that want to end all fast food (and junk food) has caught on the coat tails of al gore with his global warming....new name for these type of moonbats....gorebats!!
press on....and i will not buy 2 or more big mac's again!!
moonbats that want to end all fast food (and junk food) has caught on the coat tails of al gore with his global warming....new name for these type of moonbats....gorebats!!
press on....and i will not buy 2 or more big mac's again!!
Sorry I forgot to say what a Gorebat was….
Gorebat = Chicken Little……
One last item…..
Let’s focus on the real culprits here on planet earth. It is not you or me or our cars or our fast food restaurants or even home barbeques. It is big business….and the two worst are Big Oil and Big Auto.
There are so many other natural resources we can use that are clean…Hydrogen, Solar, and Electric for three…However with their big money they block any progress that we as Earthlings have done and expect. (This is similar to Google or Yahoo or even Microsoft – do as we want not as you want since we will make sure there is no other way…)
Sorry to say this…but get off your “Tree Hugging” crap and get into the real world. (We even have technology that replaces the use of trees....but Big Business stops this technology.) Trying to stop fast food restaurants do nothing for the real problems we face. Backing Al Gore on his unsubstantiated global warming claims are the same….unless of course your agency is dependent on government grants – it gets you no where.
The real problem folks is Big Business who have bought our elected officials that make sure we stay with their outdated resources for their profits and destroy our earth…..
Think about this folks……are you Gorebots (you know Chicken Little "the sky is falling") or are you true members of planet earth that have some form of common sense who researches for the truth?
Does this mean I won't be able to smell delectable rat burgers from three blocks away anymore?
What is the world coming to!
How is this different than home cooking? Did anyone go and calculate how much VOC the regular home puts out?
Is all VOC bad? Is the smell of cooked food cosidered VOC, and therefore bad?
I think you all need to find something better to do with your time than worry about something you really can't control.
"I think you all need to find something better to do with your time than worry about something you really can't control."
And we all think you should ask yourself why you're here making a useless comment and demonstrating that you can't spell.
I'm actually doing a research paper on fast food restaurants. Nature will live longer than us so get a life and spend it well
hey this website is quite good you need a bit more informaton thow so ok im a funky chicken
I THINK THATWESHOULD ALL BE FRIENDS AND GET ALONG
im soooooo addicted to fastfood i think that ill eat a bigmac now!!!!!!!!!!!1
EW! who would eat non organic food?! THATS SICK.....SICK and WRONG! YYUCK BLAH