The topic of gas stoves ignited a heated debate last year when a Biden appointee suggested they could be banned because they posed a risk to human health.
But a ban isn’t in the works — and this week the administration will finalize a scaled-back plan to make new stoves less energy-intensive.
Cooking on an electric range is miserable. Does the impact of pollutants and carbon offset even cover the cost of replacement given the current efficiency?
I’m all for reduction of pollutants and lessing our carbon footprint, but is this seems like a culture war topic to deflect from actual areas in society were a meaningful impact could be made.
““Does the impact of pollutants and carbon offset even cover the cost of replacement given the current efficiency?””
Gas stoves emit a variety of harmful air pollutants… The articles linked below indicate that these pollutants create a myriad of health issues that are particularly evident in children… The studies cited in the article indicate that exposure comparable to cooking with gas increased respiratory illness in children by 20%…
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-health-risks-of-gas-stoves-explained/
Assuming a new stove costs $900, lasts 10 years, and you make $20/hr, missing just 6 days of work in that 10 year span from respiratory illness would cost more than getting a new stove. Considering that the NO2 quantity produced by gas stoves can cause a 20% increase in respiratory illness in children, I’d argue that switching is a no-brainer from a purely cost aspect, especially if you have children… Missing work to deal with a sick kid is a nightmare.
If youre living alone & working from home, its likely that just factoring time lost to illness likely wouldn’t cover the cost of replacement, but that is just 1 factor out of many…
Wow, thank you for this. I still have not been impressed with how they are to cook with, but this does make it very enticing to make the switch. I’ve had both a coil & enamel top at different apts and hated both (coil better imo). I might have to find a way to demo a newer model somehow
No problem :)
I wish you luck in your quest for a demo…
I’ve never had a problem cooking with an electric stove. Maybe I don’t make fancy enough stuff.
Some folks microwave everything. Here we argue about fancy food, and they are already living the solarpunk dream.
In what way do you find electric ranges miserable?
I’ve used gas when I was growing up. I didn’t cook as much then but the main thing I remember about it is the gas pipe freezing most winters and having to grab matches to light it during power cuts. (obviously electric is worse during a power cut, but that’s a big memory I have for some reason)
I’ve used induction before and it’s just annoying. My sister’s one made a really loud noise that you could hear from other rooms, and it always turned itself off if I picked up the pan.
Electric is what I currently have and it’s fine. I don’t use my wok any more because you can’t wrap the heat around like you can with flames, but everything else is just fine. It’s easy enough to control the temperature and there’s a lot less wasted heat going into the kitchen rather than the food.
Have you ever tried making a roux on electric? Proper heat control is next to impossible with electric ranges…and if you are cooking, that is a critical part of the process
Some of the newer induction stoves have temperature sensors in them, letting you set pot temperature rather than the amount of heat you put in. You get WAY better temperature control than I ever did with gas as a result.
I think part of that is about what saucepan you use. If you’ve got thicker saucepans with a higher heat capacity, they can ride out the cycles of an electric cooker better and give a much smoother average temperature.