This doesn’t mean the only way to have an environmentally friendly summer is to stop barbecuing altogether. Some sources of charcoal are better for local ecologies than others: Kingsford, which controls 80 percent of the American charcoal market, produces its charcoal briquettes out of wood waste from local sawmills. While briquettes still emit carbon dioxide and require chemicals and energy-intensive processes to produce, they are at least avoiding the destruction of more trees for the sake of a barbecue. “After all,” Nabukalu points out, “wood waste has to be disposed of somehow.”
Another option for a greener barbecue is to opt for briquettes made out of coconut shells, which produce less smoke and eliminate the need for wood or wood waste. You can even switch fuel sources altogether. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimates that gas grills emit about half as much carbon dioxide per hour as charcoal grills. Thinking of switching to electric? Unless it’s being powered by a renewable energy source like wind or solar, electric grills actually have a worse overall footprint than gas because electricity often comes from coal.
