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Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

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41–50 of 139 posts

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#41

Interesting. I would like to know if central heating (gas) has similar effects.

Technology Connections did a video (because of course he did) on how gas furnaces work. The short of it is that the flame is contained inside of metal tubes and never mixes with indoor air. No exhaust gases can leak into the breathable air.

https://youtu.be/lBVvnDfW2Xo?t=266

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#42

I don't care. Quality-of-life. I cook in a pan every day. Nothing but an open flame gives me the kind of control I need to cook with the precision I do. Whatever the harmful effects on my health are, that is a trade I make consciously. My life would be noticeably worse without my open-flame stove. I'd wager anyone who opines otherwise in this thread barely cooks or doesn't cook in a serious fashion. A gas stove is a…

Induction is as good or better for everything except a wok.

They have wok adaptors for induction now.

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#43

The paper: https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf341 The numbers: [...] We estimate average total residential long-term NO2 exposure across the United States to be ∼10 ppbv for people who own a gas stove (∼18 ppbv or more for households in the top 5% of gas burned while cooking) and ∼8 ppbv from total outdoor exposure for those with electric stoves, which cause no additional NO2 exposure. [...] Stratifying exposure b…

It seems they considered water boiling in their numbers, which makes this estimation very non-portable across countries (e.g. countries where gas hobs are used, but also electric kettles are used)

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#44
post #22

I don't care. Quality-of-life. I cook in a pan every day. Nothing but an open flame gives me the kind of control I need to cook with the precision I do. Whatever the harmful effects on my health are, that is a trade I make consciously. My life would be noticeably worse without my open-flame stove. I'd wager anyone who opines otherwise in this thread barely cooks or doesn't cook in a serious fashion. A gas stove is a…

Induction is more precise with better control

And induction gets hot immediately. And it is easier to clean. And it is less likely to cause fires. It's just a better technology all around when compared to gas stoves. The only issue I personally have with it is that it is not compatible with all cookware.

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#45

I don't care. Quality-of-life. I cook in a pan every day. Nothing but an open flame gives me the kind of control I need to cook with the precision I do. Whatever the harmful effects on my health are, that is a trade I make consciously. My life would be noticeably worse without my open-flame stove. I'd wager anyone who opines otherwise in this thread barely cooks or doesn't cook in a serious fashion. A gas stove is a…

No way. I cook everyday and induction is vastly superior than gas. The only time fire is vastly superior is when I use a wok which I have a stove I use outdoors. Most induction stoves have temperature maintained too. So it can keep your oil at a specific temperature let it be frying or confit or roasting spices.

Can’t (properly) cook a tortilla on an electric burner, though you can get subpar results in a pan

Can’t char a pepper on an electric burner

Can’t heat a nabe on an electric burner

Also during hurricane season, my gas burner still works when the power goes out.

The list goes on of things that electric simply cannot do. To claim one is superior over the other ignores a lot of the ways people cook. They are just simply different cooking tools.

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#47

I don't care. Quality-of-life. I cook in a pan every day. Nothing but an open flame gives me the kind of control I need to cook with the precision I do. Whatever the harmful effects on my health are, that is a trade I make consciously. My life would be noticeably worse without my open-flame stove. I'd wager anyone who opines otherwise in this thread barely cooks or doesn't cook in a serious fashion. A gas stove is a…

"I'd wager anyone who opines otherwise in this thread barely cooks or doesn't cook in a serious fashion."

I started my taxable life almost 30 years ago in a Chinese kitchen. I'm literally a born-in-the-fire professional cook first and foremost out of any other thing in life I do. Induction rocks, I don't know what your skill issue is. I get pots and pans hotter, way faster than gas, and the temperature control is as fast as the cooking implement can shed the excess heat. That is as fine a degree of control as you can possibly get, the only better thing would be instantaneous temperature and that's basically a thermodynamic impossibility.

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#48
post #6

I find it significantly harder to cook with electric than gas, and the first hurdle these days is always that for some reason all modern stoves use awful touch interfaces instead of just plain knobs. I don't understand how we got there. It should be obvious to anyone that it's a terrible interface when you are trying to multitask several pots and might also have greasy hands

Simply not true. There’s a ton of induction and electric coil ranges with knobs. Just look at the Bosch line.

Agreed - maybe not lots - but I got myself a HIS8055U three years ago specifically because it had knobs. No regrets there. I wish it had one larger burner, but completely night and day with traditional electric.

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#49
post #6

I find it significantly harder to cook with electric than gas, and the first hurdle these days is always that for some reason all modern stoves use awful touch interfaces instead of just plain knobs. I don't understand how we got there. It should be obvious to anyone that it's a terrible interface when you are trying to multitask several pots and might also have greasy hands

Am I missing something? A quick search for electric ranges on Home Depot shows simmerstats at every price range. The harder one is induction, where there are lots of touch controls, but I don’t see this issue on traditional resistive stovetops. (This is in the US of course)

Induction is the good one - it has instant response like gas.

Resistive electric stoves suck and deserve their reputation, but induction is the best of both worlds: high power, accurate control, and you don't waste half of the energy due to the flame's heat going around the pot.

But the touch-sensitive controls are infuriating indeed. Nothing about induction requires them, it's just a dumb design fad.

Re: Switching to electric stoves can dramatically cut indoor air pollution (2025)

#50
I feel like it should seem obvious gas stoves create unhealthy pollution in an indoor environment.

What is less obvious and what I would personally like to know is how much pollution remains if you have a hood above your gas stove that exhausts outdoors that is operating while cooking.

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