After getting thrown in the ring and body slammed repeatedly by Mother Nature this winter, I can’t begin to tell you how ready I am for spring. With the warm, sun-kissed weather comes my two favorite past times: baseball and barbecuing. I’m no Bobby Flay, but I can grill up a mean steak, and my Cajun barbecue chicken would make even New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse’s palate sizzle.

But the love for my gas grill has come with some guilt. Gas grills have become synonymous with higher BTU levels and greater energy waste. It appears I’m not the only one that’s been bit by the grilling bug. One of the fastest growing home trends is outdoor entertainment spaces, and as the trend continues, that means more folks will be firing up their grills this spring.

According to the Hearth Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA), there are about 59 million households in the United States with a gas grill. If the average BTU usage is 60,000 units per hour and consumers grill twice a week, annual consumption per person would be 6,240,000 BTUs. Jut to give you a sense of how much that is, there are 5,900,000 BTUs per barrel of crude oil. We are expending about nearly 60 million barrels of crude oil per year with are grilling habits.                          

During my visit at the International Home Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla., last month, I came across Fire Stone’s Cook Number Gas and Electric Grill. The Cook Number Gas Grill burns just about 30,000 BTUs/hour, while its electric counterpart uses an average of 8,000 BTUs/hour. The annual saving on crude oil usage would be four times as great with a more energy-efficient grill. The Fire Stone 24-inch gas grill will cost you about $1,422 and the electric version about $500. But in the long run, you end up spending 10 to 15 cents per hour to operate it, which is less than 10 percent of the energy required for a traditional gas grill. These are high-quality grills, designed with an emphasis on durability. So if you’re striving to be a granola eater like myself, go “green” and switch over to more environmentally friendly grilling products this summer.

Do you have any good “green” products you would recommend?

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Got hot local housing tips or a story you want to share? Contact Amy Le at openingdoorsblog@homescape.com.