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"perils" is just a tad dramatic here. And while there are many advantages to induction over gas (the faster boiling times have me sold alone), there are some di

"perils" is just a tad dramatic here. And while there are many advantages to induction over gas (the faster boiling times have me sold alone), there are some disadvantages in my opinion to placing even more reliance on a electrical grid that we learn each day is more fragile than we once thought.

beachy 5y ago
Not just the grid but the fickle nature of power electronics. Our induction cooktop fried its driver circuitry last year and we were stuck cooking off a camp stove for weeks while waiting for a part from Germany. Old school cooking methods are less high tech and more repairable.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
buran77 5y ago
I think today more than ever we can agree that relying on gas may put any country in a far more precarious position. Remember that you can make enough electricity at home if need be, even if at a hefty cost maybe. The same cannot be said for the gas to power your stove and heating for any reasonable cost.
- dimitrios1 5y ago
  No, I don't think we can agree on that, especially not in America, where a mere 3 short years ago, we had an abundance of natural gas, and prices plummeting to near record lows (adjusted for inflation). The current situation we are in is due to bad policy.
  - buran77 5y ago
    So you do not agree that relying on gas may put any country in a far more precarious situation? It's happening as we speak to countries which did exactly that so your agreement was not actually sought, it was a mere figure of speech. It also doesn't help your argument when you go on to confirm that even countries with large reserves can put themselves in such a precarious situation with no help from the outside. The truth of the matter is that any country would be in a more secure position relying on resources that are regenerable, can be produced locally, and whose network can cope with a higher measure of decentralization. They make both the grid/network and the country itself more resilient regardless of "policy". As I said, you can't make your own gas and an outage for the wholly centralized gas distribution system can have dire consequences that would be lessened or even eliminated for setups like rooftop solar and heat-pump.
  - Wowfunhappy 5y ago
    The price of every type of fossil fuel is a gigantic lie that future generations will pay for. So what if the downpayment is lower, when it’s such a minuscule portion of the loan?
schroeding 5y ago
But isn't gas not also reliant on power, nowadays? Do modern gas stoves still work without power / allow manual opening of the gas valves?
- prometheus76 5y ago
  Most modern gas stoves still only use electricity to ignite the flame initially. That can easily be replaced with a match if the power is out.
dpierce9 5y ago
Gas is also supplied by a set of pipelines. There isn’t a free lunch.
- astura 5y ago
  Not necessarily, the fuel for my gas stove is propane that's delivered by a truck.
- cubix 5y ago
  We have a gas well on our property, so we come pretty close to getting a free lunch.
- dimitrios1 5y ago
  Pipelines push gas through the use of a compressor station that itself is fueled by a small amount of the natural gas being delivered.
  - dpierce9 5y ago
    In early 2014 numerous pipes were shut down in the eastern US because supply was not enough to meet demand due to a polar vortex. Compressor stations break down, suppliers fail to deliver gas, mercaptan might not be available, control systems are subject to cyber attack. My point is simply that any energy delivery system has weaknesses.
    - dimitrios1 5y ago
      It's a great point, and plays into my larger point. We shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket. Having multiple power delivery options is great. Diversification is great. Electrifying everything is going to lead to some unforeseen consequences. When the power goes out, and it's below freezing, people die. But we aren't spending as much securing and solidifying our electrical grid and power delivery as we are onboarding more and more stuff onto it.
      - dpierce9 5y ago

beachy 5y ago

Not just the grid but the fickle nature of power electronics. Our induction cooktop fried its driver circuitry last year and we were stuck cooking off a camp stove for weeks while waiting for a part from Germany. Old school cooking methods are less high tech and more repairable.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

buran77 5y ago

I think today more than ever we can agree that relying on gas may put any country in a far more precarious position. Remember that you can make enough electricity at home if need be, even if at a hefty cost maybe. The same cannot be said for the gas to power your stove and heating for any reasonable cost.

dimitrios1 5y ago
No, I don't think we can agree on that, especially not in America, where a mere 3 short years ago, we had an abundance of natural gas, and prices plummeting to near record lows (adjusted for inflation). The current situation we are in is due to bad policy.
- buran77 5y ago
  So you do not agree that relying on gas may put any country in a far more precarious situation? It's happening as we speak to countries which did exactly that so your agreement was not actually sought, it was a mere figure of speech. It also doesn't help your argument when you go on to confirm that even countries with large reserves can put themselves in such a precarious situation with no help from the outside. The truth of the matter is that any country would be in a more secure position relying on resources that are regenerable, can be produced locally, and whose network can cope with a higher measure of decentralization. They make both the grid/network and the country itself more resilient regardless of "policy". As I said, you can't make your own gas and an outage for the wholly centralized gas distribution system can have dire consequences that would be lessened or even eliminated for setups like rooftop solar and heat-pump.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  The price of every type of fossil fuel is a gigantic lie that future generations will pay for. So what if the downpayment is lower, when it’s such a minuscule portion of the loan?

schroeding 5y ago

But isn't gas not also reliant on power, nowadays? Do modern gas stoves still work without power / allow manual opening of the gas valves?

prometheus76 5y ago
Most modern gas stoves still only use electricity to ignite the flame initially. That can easily be replaced with a match if the power is out.

dpierce9 5y ago

Gas is also supplied by a set of pipelines. There isn’t a free lunch.

astura 5y ago
Not necessarily, the fuel for my gas stove is propane that's delivered by a truck.
cubix 5y ago
We have a gas well on our property, so we come pretty close to getting a free lunch.
dimitrios1 5y ago
Pipelines push gas through the use of a compressor station that itself is fueled by a small amount of the natural gas being delivered.
- dpierce9 5y ago
  In early 2014 numerous pipes were shut down in the eastern US because supply was not enough to meet demand due to a polar vortex. Compressor stations break down, suppliers fail to deliver gas, mercaptan might not be available, control systems are subject to cyber attack. My point is simply that any energy delivery system has weaknesses.
  - dimitrios1 5y ago
    It's a great point, and plays into my larger point. We shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket. Having multiple power delivery options is great. Diversification is great. Electrifying everything is going to lead to some unforeseen consequences. When the power goes out, and it's below freezing, people die. But we aren't spending as much securing and solidifying our electrical grid and power delivery as we are onboarding more and more stuff onto it.
    - dpierce9 5y ago