How much charcoal does your Egg use?

Moni-Q

A while back there was a show on TV called something like "Living With Ed", starring Ed Begley, Jr., who is a super-"Greenie". He has a spin-off Website listing easy tips for going green, the first one being "Have a Barbeque". According to the blurb ( http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_moneysaving_recycle/article/0,1801,HGTV_3131_4905743,00.html
), cooking outdoors emits less CO2 than cooking indoors on an electric stove. [p]However - horror of horrors! - that same article advocates using a gas grill over charcoal because it releases half the CO2 of a charcoal grill. Those people have obviously never heard of a Big Green Egg.[p]After reading that article, I did some calculating - My small BGE takes 6-8 hours to go thru 2 pounds of charcoal, which means it emits about 2-2.67 *ounces* of CO2 per hour, as opposed to a gas grill's 5.6 *pounds* of CO2, which is half that of a "regular" charcoal grill (11 pounds per hour).[p]I know the larger Eggs can burn thru more coal since they're larger, but what is everyone else's usage? [p]Are we accidental environmentalists? And how can we "get the word" to Ed?[p][p][p][p] [p][p][p]
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gdenby

Moni-Q,[p]I haven't measured my use in pounds per hour, but the Egg certainly beats any other cooker I've had for charcoal consumption. Because I like to not bother my neighbors too much, I'm happy that between the Egg and lump, I'm producing a lot less smoke than with previous metal grills and smokers.[p]As far as environmental concerns go, I think charcoal is basically pretty neutral. However, I've read that in some places the lump is produced by burning natural gas, in order to reduce the smoke emitted during the process. So in that case, the energy savings may not be present, and the over-all pollution may be higher than just burning the gas for heat.[p]Basically, I'm cheap and lazy. Before I got my first Egg I thought about it for some time. In practice, it turns out that I'm hauling around fewer pounds of lump than I did of briquettes, that I'm burning cleaner, and have far less ash to dispose. I won't have a pile of rust to trash every few years. And, I toss the charcoal dust into my garden to improve plant growth.[p]Works for me,
gdenby

stike

<p />Moni-Q,
this was a WEEK'S worth of ash from my small, including a 6 hour rib cook. ...never measured how much lump it was to begin with, but it wasn't much.[p]i had an eight pound bag ( i think it was eight pounds) to start, and half or more came home.

fishlessman

Moni-Q,
before i got the small i was burning about 4oo pounds a year with one large cooking for myself. i have never owned a gas grill, but i think that it wouldnt be lit as long