Really dug this piece Zebra - noone interjects the wry wit like you do.  PR and marketing efforts are so often awash with greenwash - we've seen this time and time again.  There is a bit of a connundrum I face, when I consider the recent connection I made to help drive grassroots (East) Cleveland economic development by ensuring that Hot Sauce Williams BBQ would have a berth at Ingenuity to hawk succulent soul food.

Greg Williams, BBQ master, prefers using organic charcoal briquets over propane and I laud that.  Of course we're back to coal again- but these 'grassroots emissions' should be negligible, especially considering some grill modifications under consideration.  I hope to integrate their location on Euclid outside of Playhouse Square with our sustainability showcase at Monte Ahuja.  More to come!

Dont get me wrong I love tastey bbq... but I do cringe a tad bit at the term "organic charcoal briquets".   See my post above "coal - 100% organic".   Currently I am unaware of folks certifiying silvaculture as organic.   Of course maple syrup can be... and thats an important one because the main difference in organic maple syrup vs. conventional in these here parts is that organic syrup production does not allow for the use of the anti-coagulants that can be used in conventional maple syrup productions.... that being said I am getting off topic from Charcoal BBQ to syrup... sorry for the sweet digression.

Charcoal  briquets are produced by burning high carbon materials like mother natures forest in a low oxygen environment.   A great bumper sticker once said, love your mother dont destroy her.  

Is burning trees to make fuel a wise use for Gods creation?   You be the judge.    

Alas I am a scientist not a evangelical minister.   Burn it once in a low oxygen environment then burn it again in a zero emissions control environment.   Propane does have its baggage given its oilfield origins but it also has 1/3 the emissions of charcoal per BTU at time of burning.

The potential environmental problems associated with charcoal use are exposure of users to high carbon monoxide concentration levels during cooking and emission of relatively copius quantities of nitrogen oxides aka NoX.

The Kyoto Protocol (ratified by 54 nations but not ours in 1997) calls for a substantial reduction in green house gasses world wide including nitrous oxides.

Between 2000 and 2004 the combusion of solid fuels (e.g. coal) accounted for 32% of the total CO2 hitting the atmosphere.

Interestingly Nitrous oxide (by volume) has increased 16%  since pre-industrial (1750's) levels (thanks wikipedia).   While carbon dioxide has increased over 150% in the same time frame.

Of course I try not to point out a problem without providing a solution so without further ado...  ZM prescribes more sustainably forested / produced charcoal like Wicked Good Charcoal made from "reclaimed industrial woodscraps, or Kingsford Charwood  which is initially charred using the heat from a cogeneration turbine.

Happy BBQ'ing!

We're starting to see wind pop up all over the place, except here, as we study wind on water here. Your photo shows that even in the shadow of big coal wind can happen down south... gotta wonder that big interests have kept us so far behind up here in the "Progressive" north? Just poor public leadership here, or public leadership working for the Electric Company instead of the public?

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