I've cooked a lot of pasta in my life and most pasta will be fine in usually 1/3 to 1/4th the typical amount of water, though often better with frequent stirrin

I've cooked a lot of pasta in my life and most pasta will be fine in usually 1/3 to 1/4th the typical amount of water, though often better with frequent stirring to prevent the pasta from sticking together (which is the reason for the large amounts of water and boiling water in the first place). If you're heating up 1.5 quarts (instead of a gallon) for pasta you're saving almost 3x the energy for the initial heating.