[OKC] From Slate's Green Lantern: Should I buy my lunch from a food truck or a restaurant?

[Miles, Karen]

the green lantern 

Meals on Wheels


Should I buy my lunch from a food truck or a restaurant?

By Nina Shen Rastogi
Posted Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010, at 10:26 AM ET 
________________________________

My city suddenly seems to be awash with food trucks and food carts-a
major boon to my weekday lunch routine. But whenever I'm standing there,
waiting for my slice of pizza, falafel, or kimchi quesadilla, I always
feel a twinge of guilt as I hear the generator chug away. Should I?
Would buying my lunch at an actual restaurant make my meal any greener?
The Lantern comes from a people fiercely devoted to street food
<http://www.google.com/images?q=taipei+street+food&hl=en&prmd=iv&um=1&ie
=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1188&bih=619>  (stinky tofu
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinky_tofu>  from the Shilin Night
Market-now that's fine dining). So she's relieved to say that, as far as
she can tell, there's no strong environmental reason to shun your local
street vendor. 
The truck-vs.-restaurant battle won't be won on the stovetop. The
equipment they use is often quite similar, except that restaurants
typically rely on piped-in natural gas to heat their fryers and
griddles, while trucks and carts use tanks of propane. When burned,
propane emits a bit more carbon dioxide
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/coefficients.html>  than natural gas
does, per unit of heat
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/comparing_energy_consumption.cfm
>  it generates. But unignited natural gas contains 95 percent methane,
while propane contains none. If methane reaches the atmosphere-through
leaky pipes or equipment, or burners that don't light properly-it's a
far more potent greenhouse gas <http://www.slate.com/id/2178595/>  than
carbon dioxide. 
That generator is a greater concern: The onboard electricity-used to run
lights, fridges, exhaust hoods, microwaves, and air conditioning-is
likely to be dirtier per kilowatt-hour than the electricity powering a
restaurant. The small generators favored by carts and trucks are very
inefficient compared with a power plant. They may run on gasoline,
propane, or diesel, but regardless of fuel choice, they'll spew more
hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter
<http://www.epa.gov/pm/>  than a power plant. 
Onboard generators also emit more carbon dioxide than utility-delivered
electricity. According to one emissions expert
<http://www.efee.com/staff.html> , the kind of generators typically used
on food trucks and carts might emit around 1.5 to 3 times as much of the
carbon dioxide, per unit of electricity, as the average power plant.
That's just a ballpark figure, though-there isn't much decent data on
this topic, since portable generators are small potatoes in the grand
scheme of climate change. And of course, these estimates depend on your
utility's specific fuel mix <http://www.slate.com/id/2208446/> : If
you're buying breakfast sandwiches from a food truck in a coal-heavy
state, the truck's generator won't look quite so bad compared to the
local power plant.
Article continues at URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2272476/
 
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