[Greenbuilding] Induction cooking
Paul Eldridge
paul.eldridge at ns.sympatico.ca
Mon Sep 26 15:59:05 CDT 2011
Hi Bruno,
My impression is that induction hobs are three to four times more
efficient than gas at point of use because all of the energy is
transferred directly to the cooking vessel as opposed to being absorbed
by the supporting hardware or, more critically, lost around the edges of
the pot or pan.
Even at full flame, our portable induction hobs easily outperform the
4.5 kW burners on our gas cooker. As a simple test, I boiled 200 ml of
room temperature water using both propane and induction. To make the
comparison as fair as possible, I selected a large frying pan for the
gas burner to ensure maximum heat transfer and a standard size pot for
the induction unit. The induction hob brought the water to a rolling
boil in two minutes and twenty-eight seconds using a maximum of
1,119-watts at 114-volts and consuming a total of 0.04 kWh. Its gas
counterpart completed the same job in two minutes and forty-three
seconds (just fifteen seconds longer) but, in the process, consumed four
times as much energy.
One hundred per cent of our electricity is wind and low-impact hydro
purchased through Bullfrog Power and so, environmentally speaking,
electricity gets the nod. Another benefit of switching from propane to
electric is that our kitchen stays cooler during the summer and we don't
have to run the extractor fan as often, consequently, less conditioned
air is sucked out of our home; with propane, the combustion by-products
given off pretty much meant that the fan ran continuously whenever one
or more burners were in use.
In terms of cost, I obtained our first induction unit by redeeming
credit card points and the second I bought on Kijiji for $20.00.
Fortunately for us, all of our cookware was already induction compatible
and so our total capital outlay was extremely modest.
Our test bed: http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/oo69/HereinHalifax/IH.jpg
Cheers,
Paul
>Message: 1
>Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:03:28 +0200
>From: "Bruno M."<brunom1 at telenet.be>
>To: Green Building<greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
>Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Induction cooking
>
>[snip]
>
>There is hardly any energy efficiency benefit versus natural gas cooking.
>
>And for induction cooking you need special pans.
>
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