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> Burning gas for cooking is more efficient than burning it to generate electricity and turn it back to heat in an induction stove. Is it? Induction cooktop he
by dpark 5y ago
> Burning gas for cooking is more efficient than burning it to generate electricity and turn it back to heat in an induction stove.
Is it? Induction cooktop heating is quite efficient. Gas is extremely inefficient. Huge amounts of heat roll up the side of the pot/pan and into the air, to be blown outside by the hood vent.
There’s quite a bit of loss in generating and transmitting electricity but I am not sure it’s worse than gas cooktop efficiency.
- nine_k 5y agoThe stove may be 100% efficient. Thermal electricity genetation is at best 60% efficient, and transmission losses add a couple percent. Do you suppose that gas stove wastes a lot of heat when heating a pot that stands on it?
- crooked-v 5y agoMy gas stove heats the pot, but also the cabinets above and around the stove and the entire small kitchen. Just being able to feel the air temperature go up by a couple of degrees would certainly suggest it's throwing off more waste heat than what's actually going into the pan.
- dpark 5y agoA gas stove is very close to 100% efficient at converting gas to heat. It is certainly not 100% efficient at putting that heat into the pot. Gas produces heat by combusting with oxygen and essentially generating hot air. The air will impart some of its heat to the pot. A ton of the heat will end up just heating the air around the stove (or being dumped outside if you’re running a hood vent). This article claims 40% efficiency and provides a citation, for what it’s worth. https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/efficient-cooking https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/efficient-cooki... It’s worth noting that natural gas transmission can’t be 100% efficient either. I don’t know what the loss is but it certainly takes energy to push natural gas through pipelines and there is loss in the system due to leaks.