USA Carbon Footprints of Grills, by Fuel & Grill Type, 2022–27
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
- A fuel footprint: carbon-dioxide-equivalents emitted per unit of fuel energy consumed; and
- A cooking footprint: the time required and efficiency of heat delivery by each grill type.
2.1. Fuel Footprints 2022
2.1.1. Charcoal Briquettes
2.1.2. Electricity
2.1.3. (Green) Hydrogen
2.1.4. Natural Gas
2.1.5. Propane
2.1.6. Wood Pellets and Wood Logs
2.2. Cooking Footprints 2022
2.3. Grill Footprints in 2027
2.3.1. No-Coal Charcoal?
2.3.2. Electricity Decarbonized
2.3.3. Green Hydrogen
2.3.4. Renewable Gas
2.3.5. rPropane
2.3.6. Wood
3. Results
4. Discussion
4.1. Footprints 2022
4.2. Footprints 2027
- (1)
- rankings could change considerably;
- (2)
- footprint variation could narrow from 9:1 today to about 4.5:1; and that
- (3)
- within a much-lower range, the highest footprint of in 2027 of 1.5 lb CO2e/grill session coming in almost 60% lower than 2022′s highest of 3.6 lb.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Component | Weight % | LHV, MJ/kg | Weighted LHV |
---|---|---|---|
Charcoal | 70% | 28 | 19.6 |
Brown coal | 9% | 17 | 1.53 |
Limestone | 15% | 3.2 | 0.48 |
Sawdust | 5% | 19 | 0.95 |
NaBorate | 1% | 0 | 0 |
Briquette | 100% | 22.6 |
Component | GHG Factor kg CO2/kg Fuel | Weight kg | Weighted Footprint kg CO2/kg | Footprint Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|
Charcoal | 1.23 | 0.70 | 0.861 | ecoinvent: charcoal, at plant, Base Case |
Brown coal | 0.34 | 0.09 | 0.031 | ecoinvent: Hard coal mix, at regional storage/UCTE U |
Limestone | 0.01 | 0.15 | 0.002 | Average of ecoinvent and [4] |
Sawdust | 0.17 | 0.05 | 0.008 | Wood pellets, u = 10%, at storehouse/RER U |
NaBorate | 0.01 | 0 | NA | |
Briquette | 1.00 | 0.902 |
Component | GHG Factor kg CO2/kg Fuel | Weight kg | Weighted Footprint kg CO2/kg | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Charcoal | 0 | 0.70 | 0 | Assumed carbon neutral |
Brown coal | 3.67 | 0.09 | 0.33 | 100% carbon to CO2 |
Limestone | 0.44 | 0.15 | 0.066 | 100 CaCO3 + Heat > 56 CaO + 44 CO2 |
Sawdust | 0 | 0.05 | 0 | Assumed carbon neutral |
NaBorate | 0 | 0.01 | 0 | NA |
Briquette | 1.00 | 0.396 |
Fuel | Weighted Average Footprint | Source |
---|---|---|
Coal | 7.07 | ecoinvent |
Nuclear | 0.72 | UN Economic Commission for Europe |
Gas | 16.71 | National Energy Technology Laboratory (US) |
Renewables | 0.72 | UN Economic Commission for Europe |
Sum | 25.23 |
Grill Type | BTU/hr Max | BTU/hr Min | BTU/hr sq in | Fuel | Ignition Min | Warm up Min | Cook Min | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electric high heat | 5975 | N/A | 20 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 30 | |
Electric low heat | 5975 | N/A | 20 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 30 | |
Electric average heat | 5975 | N/A | 20 | Electricity | 0 | 15 | 30 | 300 sq in, thermostatic control, assume operating rate at 2/3 max |
Typical convective gas grill at 30,000 BTU/hr. | 30,000 | 13,500 | 100 | Propane | 0 | 15 | 30 | 300 sq in, assume operating rate at avg of max rate and min rate |
Improved IR gas grill at 22,500 BTU/hr. | 22,500 | 13,500 | 75 | Propane | 0 | 15 | 30 | 300 sq in, assume operating rate at avg of max rate and min rate |
Super efficient IR gas grill at 15,000 BTU/hr | 15,000 | 9000 | 50 | Propane | 0 | 10 | 30 | 300 sq in, assume operating rate at avg of max and min |
Pellet Smoker/Grill | 40,000 | N/A | 157 | Pellets | 10 | 10 | 40 | 254 sq in, thermostatic control, assume opeating rate at 1/2 max |
Charcoal Grill | N/A | N/A | N/A | Charcoal briquettes | 0 | 15 | 75 | 254 sq in, no control; assume 2.2 lb @ 9700 BTU/lb, i.e., 1 kg charcoal, consumed over 90 min |
Grill Type | BTUh Max | BTU/Cycle Aka Q Total | kBtu/Cycle |
---|---|---|---|
Electric high | 5975 | 3485 | 3.5 |
Electric low | 5975 | 3485 | 3.5 |
Electric average | 5975 | 3485 | 3.5 |
Typical gas grill | 30,000 | 18,375 | 18.4 |
Improved gas grill | 22,500 | 14,625 | 14.6 |
Super-efficient gas grill | 15,000 | 8500 | 8.5 |
Pellet | 40,000 | 20,000 | 20.0 |
Charcoal | N/A | 14,227 | 14.2 |
Base Case 2022 | Possible Case 2027 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Grill Fuel | lb CO2e/mmBTU LHV | Grill Fuel | lb CO2e/mmBTU LHV |
Wood logs | 4 | Wood logs | 4 |
Wood pellets | 20 | Wood pellets | 20 |
Green hydrogen | 85 | Renewable propane | 39 |
Charcoal briquettes | 134 | Biomethane (gas) | 44 |
Natural gas | 177 | Green hydrogen | 85 |
Propane | 194 | Charcoal briquettes | 107 |
Electricity | 314 | Electricity | 255 |
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Johnson, E.; Gafford, A. USA Carbon Footprints of Grills, by Fuel & Grill Type, 2022–27. Fuels 2022, 3, 475-485. https://doi.org/10.3390/fuels3030029
Johnson E, Gafford A. USA Carbon Footprints of Grills, by Fuel & Grill Type, 2022–27. Fuels. 2022; 3(3):475-485. https://doi.org/10.3390/fuels3030029
Chicago/Turabian StyleJohnson, Eric, and Alex Gafford. 2022. "USA Carbon Footprints of Grills, by Fuel & Grill Type, 2022–27" Fuels 3, no. 3: 475-485. https://doi.org/10.3390/fuels3030029