Barbecuing is one of the most popular leisure activities in Germany, but extremely harmful to our environment and climate.
Background:
In Germany, around 250,000 tons of barbecue charcoal were imported in 2018. The necessary wood came to 42 percent from tropical or subtropical forests, where it was predominantly illegally felled and charred. The damage caused by this overexploitation in the rainforests of South America, Africa and the tundra is catastrophic for the local regions as well as for the global climate via the release of significant amounts of greenhouse gases.
Product:
Our öCoal copes with these problems because we use reeds as biomass for charring. This is available in large quantities in the moorland and coastal areas of our state and must be cut back regularly for landscape maintenance. Due to a lack of alternative uses, the biomass harvested in this way usually remains as waste, which has to be disposed of at great expense. Recycling this reed would not only solve a disposal problem, but also create an economic incentive for farmers to use existing peatlands in an ecologically sustainable way. These peatlands are the most important reservoir ofCO2 in northern Germany, but have often lost this function due to agricultural drainage (drainage of peatlands, for example, is responsible for 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).
The special thing:
By utilizing biomass from existing and rewetted peatlands, our öCoal could mathematically contribute to an absolute reduction of theCO2 content in the atmosphere of up to 50kg per 2.5kg bag. In total, considerable amounts ofCO2 could be saved. In addition, the product meets German quality requirements and is to be made in M-V.
Current status:
Thanks to a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, we were able to produce a marketable prototype of öKohle. We are currently planning to finance a production plant that is scheduled to go into operation in 2023.
