Incremental Iterations - Part 2

While we all love to cook on them, gas stoves have become a target of the climate action community. Besides burning fossil fuels, the California Air Resources Board states that “Natural gas and propane stoves can release carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and other harmful pollutants into the air, which can be toxic to people and pets.” Exposure to these can cause or worsen a wide range of health problems such as nose and throat irritation, headaches, fatigue and nausea. Young children, people with asthma and people with heart or lung disease are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of indoor air pollution. The solution: upgrade to an induction cooktop. Electric induction cooktops use electromagnetics to efficiently heat pots and pans directly. BAYREN - the Bay Area Regional Government Network, is offering a $300 rebate to anyone who upgrades from a gas stove to an induction cooktop. However, a gas stove is a hard thing to consider giving up, so we thought we’d test it out a little first. One of the great things about being a realtor is that you end up with some fantastic schwag when homeowners are packing up to prepare for a sale. Thanks to that, it so happens that we have two portable induction cooktops sitting in the garage. Why not pull one out and try it?

On the left is our trusty, old, obviously well used tea kettle. (We drink a lot of coffee and tea around here.) On the right, the induction cooktop. (This is after dinner. If I had known I was going to write about this I would have cleaned the stove first!) One of the concerns about induction stoves is that people think you need special pans for them. We tried all of ours, and found that about 2/3 of what we already own, including this All-Clad pot, work on the cooktop. We started with exactly 3 cups of cold water in each, then timed how fast it took them to come to a boil at maximum heat. The tea kettle took 1 minute and 12 seconds longer. Impressive, but I’m not sure if that’s enough to convince me to give up my gas stove just yet. I’ll keep this induction cooktop around to play with it a little longer. Meanwhile, this article from the New York Times explains that you might not need to ditch your gas stove just yet and this one from the California Air Resources Board tells you how to cook with gas more safely. TL;DR - use your vent hood, cook on the back burners if possible, and open a window while cooking. Curious to try it out? We have an extra portable induction cooktop you can borrow. Give me a call!