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SANDRA L. IN MICHIGAN ASKS:
My family loves grilled food, and we grill a lot. Is grilling bad—like, how much does it contribute to air pollution? What’s the safest, greenest way to grill?
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MOM DETECTIVE ANSWERS:
There’s something about food cooked over an open flame. Still, combustion is combustion. Whenever you burn anything, including when grilling, pollution releases into the air. EPA says residential barbecue grilling emissions can include carbon monoxide, NOx, PM10-PRI, PM25-PRI, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Sandra, you don’t have to know what those things mean to understand that no smashed burger is emissions-free.
Grilling emissions come primarily from burning charcoal and using lighter fluid, plus cooking in general on gas or electric grills. If this makes you want to give up grilling, a little context: Cooking indoors on a gas stove also creates air pollution, so do wood fires. Ample studies document the health risks of indoor cooking, including lung and respiratory issues.
Knowing all this I, like you, still cook—and grill—my food. A raw food diet doesn’t entice me, so I accept some level of air pollution and health harms when cooking. Thankfully, there are absolutely better ways to grill, starting with these simple steps:
- Just say no to lighter fluid.
- Choose charcoal carefully.
- Avoid flare-ups and eating charred or burnt food as grilling can produce carcinogens.
- Clean consciously—to tidy up a grill, just “scrub” it with an onion, no chemical cleaners needed.
- Grill “green” food—what you eat has real environmental impact.
- Think broadly about air pollution—switching to an electric car or asking your school district to get electric school buses packs a bigger punch than your grill.
- Enjoy—food should be pleasurable, and stress can be toxic too.
Now let’s get into these steps more thoroughly.
What grill to choose
When people talk about grilling, it’s usually to debate gas versus charcoal—a personal choice that can get, well, heated. When it comes to the environment, the debate shifts from flavor to carbon footprint and emissions. Advice on the greenest grilling option abounds, but isn’t totally clear, which is frustrating. What grill to choose varies by study and source.
Generally, charcoal grills are considered environmentally worse than propane, though it depends on the type of charcoal used. But a recent study using public information plus data from a major grill manufacturer concludes that a typical gas grill has the highest carbon footprint of all available grills and puts wood-pellet grills at the lowest. I’ve yet to meet a wood-pellet grill owner, have you? This study ranks charcoal briquettes, electricity, and super-efficient gas grills in between the two other options.
It’s confusing, arguably, and maybe no big deal if you grill infrequently. But people in the United States are grilling more and more these days. Just think about how much air pollution gets created on the Fourth of July, the most popular grilling day each year, when over 50% of grill owners fire them up, according to the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (yes, this is a thing—bookmark their safety tips here). They say 80% of all homeowners and 70% of all households in the U.S. own at least a grill or smoker, up from 64% household ownership in 2019.
Some thoughts about charcoal
There’s no such thing as totally eco-friendly briquettes or lump charcoal, and burning either creates pollution. Conventional charcoal briquettes are made from sawdust, small pieces of coal, sodium nitrate, and other additives and binders, while the production of hard lump charcoal contributes to global warming and deforestation. One choice is clear: Avoid easy-light lumps; they have been soaked in lighter fluid, which can contain benzene, butane, hexamine, and propane, among other unhealthy substances. They give off VOCs while burning, a familiar smell you don’t want to be breathing. If you are currently using conventional charcoal, charcoal containing lighter fluid, and lighter fluid in general, it’s time for a change.
Better charcoal options include those made from invasive tree species or environmentally certified wood (like those given the stamp by the Forest Stewardship Council), and clean-burning ones made from plant materials. Basically, you want to avoid chemical additives and fillers. Bonus: unlike gas, these are renewable resources.
Some thoughts about gas
Opting for gas means avoiding the risks associated with lighter fluid and charcoal smoke. But propane comes from fracked gas processing or petroleum refining, and their negative impacts are well established. Still, gas barbecues are said to produce about half as much CO2 as charcoal grills, and about 1/3 as much as electric grills, making them unexpectedly efficient.
The greenest grills
Grilling is not only a gas and charcoal game. There are other options. Solar cookers (OK, not technically a grill) use only the sun’s energy to cook outdoors. Then, there are electric grills, which don’t produce direct emissions, and some grilling purists swear they work similarly to propane. There are also those wood pellet grills.
Smoking and barbecue
If you don’t own a smoker, adding wood to any grill creates smoke and imparts flavor. If you like smoke, keep in mind that grilling with wood contributes to deforestation and releases ash and smoke, which can provoke respiratory problems. If you want some smoke, opt for slow-burning hardwoods over fast-burning softwoods. If you have access to wood you trust, like prunings from your own trees, burn that.
Ultimately what kind of grill you choose—and what food you grill—is up to you. If you’re interested in combating air pollution beyond your grill, join Moms Clean Air Force to demand that our elected officials and agencies continue to invest in clean air and act on climate today and every day.
Tell Congress: Commit to Climate Investments and Clean Air Progress