Low carbon barbecue
Memorial Day weekend and the smell of barbecue is in the air. As you pick up the propane tank to check if there’s any juice left from last summer, you may be wondering about the carbon impact of the outdoor grill. A few thoughts:
The actual grilling process isn’t really the big carbon part of this. If you’re using a propane grill, you’d have to make your way through a whole tank of propane (roughly eight and a half hours of cooking on a modern grill) to equal the carbon emissions of the average daily commute (a little under 50 lbs of CO2).
But if you’re inviting friends round for the inaugural 2008 barbecue this weekend, here are a few other things to think about:
- Consider transportation. Where are your guests coming in from? Can the carpool? Walk or bike? Take public transportation? Make it easy for them.
- It’s about what you cook, not how you cook it. Think about your actual ingredients. Meat (and especially beef) has a high carbon content. A recent study found that a pound of beef can take 36 times its weight in carbon dioxide to produce. Buy local, fresh and organic where possible. Where you can’t do all three… well, let’s not get into the local vs. organic debate here.
- Use reusable plates and cutlery. It might seem easier to use the paper plates, but you’ll look so much more sophisticated if you use the real things and wash them afterwards.
- Lose the heat lamp. The cool evening air just isn’t supposed to be reheated. We’re doing well enough as it is with global warming.
- Get a keg. Beer tastes much better from a keg than the bottle or can. Serve it in glasses and you won’t have to worry about emptying out those half-drunk cans when you’re clearing up.
And if you’ve been through all of this and you’re still worried about the impact, Climate Change Chocolate has a day’s worth of offsets bundled in, and we hear it makes great s’mores!
Low carbon flights on the internet
If you travel a lot, you’re probably used to visiting airline web sites and being asked whether you want to see your flights sorted by price or schedule. How would you like to sort by carbon?
Until recently, only experts in aviation emissions could track down this information. But now the public can find comparative data using TerraPass’ new aviation calculator. The results can help you choose the flight with the lowest climate impact. Here’s what I found during a check of popular U.S. air routes:
| Route | Airline | Pounds of CO2* |
| JFK to LAX | Virgin America | 1,390 |
| Delta | 1,456 | |
| American | 1,586 | |
| United | 2,070 | |
| SFO to JFK | Delta | 1,425 |
| Virgin America | 1,450 | |
| JetBlue | 1,462 | |
| Alaska | 1,496 | |
| American | 1,530 | |
| United | 2,158 | |
| DCA to LGA | US Airways | 260 |
| United | 304 | |
| Delta | 350 | |
| American | 816 | |
| ATL to ORD | Delta | 543 |
| United | 611 | |
| US Airways | 614 | |
| American | 708 | |
| LAX to SFO | Virgin America | 344 |
| United | 351 | |
| American | 397 | |
| Southwest | 406 | |
| Alaska | 420 | |
| Delta | 798 |
* Per passenger, round-trip flight, economy class
The calculator takes into account aircraft type, average passenger loads, and fuel burn rates for ascents and descents. So the carbon emissions per passenger can vary widely — sometimes by a factor of two or more from lowest to highest on the same route. And across different routes, it’s not necessarily the same airline that pollutes the least. The type of aircraft and how full the planes are flying can make a particular airline a green leader for one route and among the carbon hogs for another route.
As travelers become more aware of these differences, we hope they will select flights based on which ones transport a passenger point-to-point with the least amount of carbon pollution. The cool thing for consumers is that less carbon means less fuel, which should eventually mean lower ticket prices.
Airline executives take note: TerraPass just gave your customers a tool to help them (and you) fight climate change.
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