Induction cooking is the tip of the spear for home electrification
Induction cooking is the tip of the spear for home electrification
Induction stoves will soon do for buildings what electric cars are doing for transportation
Some of the most vivid memories I have of my childhood are of helping mom in the kitchen. At first, she tasked me with simple chores like peeling potatoes and separating eggs, as well as mixing dough and shaping brigadeiros. As I grew up, I was allowed to take on more challenging tasks that required operating the stove, like cooking rice, grilling a steak, and eventually preparing a complete feijoada. That early start gave me decades of hands-on experience to develop my culinary skills. I picked up good techniques along the way and today I can confidently navigate any home kitchen.
I don’t consider myself a chef. My skills are a mixed bag, with brilliance materializing at the same rate as utter failure. But I take great pleasure in cooking, especially when surrounded by friends and family. To me, preparing a meal for someone is a form of love.
If you cook as regularly as I do, you constantly seek out the best tools for the job. And that begins with the heat source. Growing up in Brazil, propane cylinders were the norm but over the years I got to operate all kinds of stove tops: electric coils, ceramic cooktops, and even a cast iron wood stove. However, nothing compared to the power, control, and awesomeness I found in the blue flame of burning piped natural gas. Today I cook on a semi-commercial 5-burner that is a wonderful thing to behold, and was a key factor in the decision to purchase my current home. I love my gas stove.
But I loved my fossil fuel-powered car too, and we all know how happily I gave that up as soon as I got behind the wheel of an electric vehicle.
I also have to admit that the late realization that my stove runs on methane gas has made it easier for me accept the fact that one day, it and I will have to part ways.
Why is natural gas bad? Wait, IS it bad?
Gas stoves were in the news recently after a new study linking them to childhood asthma was widely reported. I won’t go into the details here, if you are interested in the context I can recommend this thoughtful article.
While alarmist headlines can be misleading, it is clear that electrification will improve indoor air quality. Although the risks are not insignificant, they can be mitigated with good ventilation. Granted, not everyone has access to a well-ventilated kitchen, but overall I don’t see reason to panic. Even then, recently I have become more mindful about using the range hood since learning about all the toxic nitrogen oxide I’ve been inhaling while blissfully preparing my pasta alla carbonara.
It should go without saying that natural gas is flammable, it leaks, and every now and then it goes kaboom. Given this danger alone, it is surprising that people haven’t lined up to electrify sooner.
And how about the climate? After all, natural gas is almost entirely methane.
Cooking is responsible for less than 1% of natural gas usage in the U.S., and around 3% within the buildings sector. Regardless of how we slice it, gas cooking is hardly a main driver of climate change. When it comes to decarbonization, we have bigger fish to fry (ba-dum-tss!)
Instead, power generation, industrial processes, and heating are the main usages for which we need green alternatives. On the sole basis of emissions, we could continue using our beloved gas stoves and focus electrification efforts on everything else.
Except it is not that simple: once wholesale decarbonization gets underway, natural gas usage will fall while the infrastructure remains in place. At some point it will become too costly to maintain this massive infrastructure of underground piped gas just for cooking purposes. Some are now calling for a more targeted approach to electrification where natural gas supply is gradually cut off one neighborhood, or zone, at a time. This zonal electrification approach is already being piloted in California. In this scenario, replacing gas stoves in the target zones will be critical, even if the cooking emissions by themselves are not significant.
Enter the induction stove.
How induction cooking works
All forms of cooking rely on transferring heat from one medium to another. That is inefficient because some of the heat is lost as it propagates through the appliance itself, instead of concentrating on the thing you actually want to cook.
A radiant electric cooktop, for example, gets very hot on the surface because that is how it heats up the pan (and the reason they are so slow to heat up and cool down.) That is also why I learned from a young age not to go anywhere near my grandma’s cast iron wood stove, which lost so much heat to the surrounding environment that it could only be fired up in winter. It might seem like the natural gas flames are better at directing heat, but any cook knows how hot the burners and grates can get, as well as the air around the stove.
Induction is different, in that the stove does not create any heat at all. Instead, it basically orders the pot to heat itself:
[It] has a heat-proof glass-ceramic surface above a coil of copper wire with a low radio frequency alternating electric current passing through it. The resulting oscillating electromagnetic field induces an electrical current in the [pot]. This large eddy current flowing through the resistance of a thin layer of metal in the base of the [pot] results in resistive heating.
Electromagnetic cooking! You can thank 1830s cutting edge tech for that. Having finally made their way into the modern kitchen, magnets are responsible for the up to 90% energy efficiency we see with induction cooking, compared to 40% with the pretty little blue flames.
Just like EVs are a better product than combustion cars, induction stoves are not only more efficient than gas stoves, but are more powerful, more precise, have far better tech built in, are better looking, and easier to clean. And with induction a watched pot will boil. I mean, what more could you ask for?
How induction stoves will help to electrify everything
If our aim is to fully electrify the home, it is important to understand the emotional drivers that will encourage individuals to invest time and money into replacing appliances and embarking on complex electrification projects.
Stoves hold a special place in many households as they often embody cherished memories and culinary traditions (gas utilities understood this early on.) The kitchen is a hub of social and family activities and, for some of us, the place where we learned to cook alongside our mothers. By offering an improved cooking experience, cleaner air, and a more comfortable kitchen, we can foster positive associations that promote the benefits of decarbonization.
Stoves are very much like cars in the sense that we are selective in choosing them. While a gas boiler may only be replaced once it reaches end-of-life, sometimes at 20 years or much longer, most people opt to upgrade their stove or car well before that point. The shorter replacement cycle makes them ideal for igniting the journey towards full home electrification.
A major challenge is the price difference between gas and induction we still see today. However, with rebates and incentives becoming more available in the United States and elsewhere, I am optimistic that the gap will close. As electric vehicles have demonstrated, increased adoption will also drive down prices.
As for myself, I am not yet sure when I will replace my gas stove. A superior induction model still exceeds my budget, and I am told that there is a slight learning curve. But there was a learning curve with my EV too, and at the other end I encountered a different, better way to drive. I am already looking forward to a different, better cooking experience.
What else is cooking:
Thanks to the folks at the Building Decarbonization Coalition who have inspired me to learn about this subject. Here’s an interview with their executive director:
This 3-minute video by celebrity chef Jon Kung:
Or lose track of time watching Chef Matt Broussard on TikTok.
An informative in-depth discussions about the effects of methane cooking
This contrarian and strongly worded piece warns against pushing the ‘gas is poison’ narrative and loud environmental activism. And yet it concludes that we should all aspire to a world with “an induction stove in every kitchen, an EV in every driveway, an electric heat pump in every crawl space.”
In the mood for shopping?
The Spruce has a list of The 8 Best Induction Ranges of 2023
Check out this gorgeous (and unaffordable) range of high-end stoves, or these great designs
No need to splurge, though: a portable induction cooktop can be yours for less than $80. Get one and try it out!