BBQ gas is helping to cool a warming planet

THERE are plenty of sophisticated materials that the world is counting on to limit global warming. Polysilicon for solar panels. Rare-earth magnets for wind turbines. Lithium for electric vehicle batteries. But propane?

Believe it or not, the fossil hydrocarbon – produced from oil and gas wells, and mostly used as a cooking and heating fuel for barbecues, boilers and domestic stoves – may help turn the tide on some of the most damaging greenhouse gases humans have ever produced.

Isobutane, another popular barbecue fuel, has a similar role to play, as do ammonia and even carbon dioxide.