Are Wood Pellets Greener than Charcoal?

A reader asks the Green Guide:

I really enjoyed your articles about the environmental impacts of grilling. They do a great job of spelling out charcoal vs. gas (Greener Grilling by Vincent Standley). What is the story with wood pellet grills? In particular I have seen Traeger grills advertised as the convenience of gas with the flavor of charcoal. Where do they fall in the environmental impact spectrum?

Brian B.
San Francisco, CA

The Green Guide responds:
Like the "paper or plastic?" debate, there's no real winner when deciding between charcoal and propane. These wood pellets are a greener third alternative, but they come with problems of their own.

Both wood pellets and charcoal start out as trees, but charcoal is charred and converted into briquettes that contain unhealthy ingredients like coal dust and sodium nitrate. Wood pellets, however, are left untreated and don't contain these harmful additives. The fact that they both come from wood also raises the issue of deforestation: Because of federal health standards, pellets used for grilling can't be made from recycled materials, which means they have to be sourced from virgin wood, a representative from Traeger explained. Traeger gets its wood from several different sources, including private orchards and furniture manufacturers, which are better than getting wood from old-growth forests. Charcoal also has to come from virgin wood, but there are brands, like Whole Foods 365 (see Whole Foods for store locations), that use well-managed wood. Finally, burning charcoal produces more greenhouse gas emissions than wood, but burning wood releases smoke and ashes into the air, triggering respiratory irritation.

Wood pellets could gain the upper hand, though, when it comes to flavor, because you can buy pellets from different types of hardwoods, such as apple and cherry, to suit your taste. This is a healthy (and tasty) alternative to conventional charcoal and lighter fluid, which is a petroleum distillate that emits volatile organic compounds.

Given the flavor issues and charcoal's contributions to atmospheric greenhouse gases, wood pellets are a better alternative. But keep in mind that the most efficient way to use these chips is to purchase a brand new wood pellet grill, which doesn't make a very green option if you already have a perfectly functioning charcoal or gas grill. If you are replacing an existing grill, consider the greenest of all options: solar.

For more on greener grilling, see The Omnivore's Green Grill.