Energy Saving Cooking Devices

[flyinglentris]

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) for California electric power consumers provides a nice web site that allows paying bills and monitoring power usage.

I did a comparison using the apartment's electric range and my NuWave portable cook top to see how power savings might stack up by using the NuWave.

The following graphic is provided automatically, day by day, from PG&E.

I moved in on Friday, the 26th of March, using 5 kWh. On Saturday, the 27th, I tested the air conditioner heating and usage almost doubled to over 9 kWh. Generally, my power consumption is under 6 kWh. The peak on April 21st is the day that I tested my new pressure cooker. I baked my dish pizza pie in the apartment's oven on April 22nd. Unfortunately, the day I used the apartment's stove top to cook the quinoa for the quinoa breakfast pudding, is not posted yet. The peak on April 9th is not clear, but it is the day that I made the pizza sauce for the burger bun pie pizza, using the NuWave.

It is not yet clear what difference may exist between using the apartment stove top or the NuWave cooktop at this time. But I can tell you that the apartment stove top heats unevenly, takes longer to get hot and takes much longer to cool down. The NuWave heats quickly and evenly heats only the parts of the pot or pan touching its surface. It cools down instantly except where the hot pot or pan is still in contact. Remove the pot or pan and the NuWave cools almost instantly, allowing it to be touched.

I have not used the apartment's air conditioner for heating since the initial test and use instead, a small portable heater, in the bedroom only, at night.

I will continue to test and evaluate power consumption comparisons of my appliances and the apartment's stove top and oven.

 

[flyinglentris]

Two points ...

What was responsible for the power consumption dip on April 14th? I went out that day to a VA appointment and when I got back, made a salad for my meal and did not cook anything.

What is the red line on the graphic? PG&E rightfully concerns itself with air conditioning power consumption as that is where most household power is consumed. The red line represents weather temperatures and allows comparing power consumption in response to varying weather conditions.

 

[caseydog]

I look at ROI (Return on Investment) when deciding what energy saving appliances make sense. I spent extra money for high efficiency air conditioning systems when I replaced mine, because the extra money I spent would pay for itself fairly quickly in reduced electric bills.

As for things like cooktops, to me it is all about what works best. I plan to get an induction cooktop as soon as my bank account recovers from Covid. Not for reduced energy costs, but because induction works better than the electric ceramic cooktop I have. It would take WAY too long for the added efficiency to pay for the cost of the new induction cooktop, since the cooktop I have works. I just want one for how well they work for serious cooks.

BTW, I used to own shares of PG&E stock. I got rid of it. That is one messed up company.

CD

 

[medtran49]

We have a couple of the Nuwave burners. They tend to get used when it is really hot because they are definitely cooler to use. I think they do perform better as far as efficiency. I know they boil water a lot faster, even faster than the 1 "power" burner on our stovetop that's a higher wattage or voltage (I never remember which) than the other burners. When we are using them, we just keep them on the stovetop since we aren't using it anyway.

Also, if you have the top of the line model, they can get your pan up to a really high temp. Wok hei time!

As an extra use, they are great to have during the aftermath of a hurricane when you are running on generator power. A lot better than those portable electric coil units. Trust me, I've used both.

 

[Termyn8or]

Energy saving - ick.

Refrigerators now got little peewee compressors in them. They pull less powerand run longer. As a result if you open it too much it cannot keep up and the food gets warm.

Some new toasters are junk because they don't get hot enough and the toast is too dry.

As much as I like cooking with gas, electric is already nearly 100% efficient. The only waste is the light produced by the glow of the elements, which is unavoidable if you want it hot.

Thing is if it takes you longer to cook something not as hot, what have you saved ?

They got the same stupid crap with water. A water saving spigot on your kitchen sink saves nothing, you are still going to fill the sink and do your dishes. Like the shower, you get in there with that water saver and it takes 5 times as long to get your hair wet enough what have you saved ? You may have used MORE water. Water saving toilets, get your checkbook ready for the drain to the street to be reamed out by Roto-rooter or whatever.

When it comes to cooking I think it is no place to worry about the electric or gas bill. When you want it hot you should have it hot.

T

 

[caseydog]

Energy saving - ick.

Refrigerators now got little peewee compressors in them. They pull less powerand run longer. As a result if you open it too much it cannot keep up and the food gets warm.

Some new toasters are junk because they don't get hot enough and the toast is too dry.

As much as I like cooking with gas, electric is already nearly 100% efficient. The only waste is the light produced by the glow of the elements, which is unavoidable if you want it hot.

Thing is if it takes you longer to cook something not as hot, what have you saved ?

They got the same stupid crap with water. A water saving spigot on your kitchen sink saves nothing, you are still going to fill the sink and do your dishes. Like the shower, you get in there with that water saver and it takes 5 times as long to get your hair wet enough what have you saved ? You may have used MORE water. Water saving toilets, get your checkbook ready for the drain to the street to be reamed out by Roto-rooter or whatever.

When it comes to cooking I think it is no place to worry about the electric or gas bill. When you want it hot you should have it hot.

T

Wow. Not sure what to say. Electric stoves nearly 100-percent efficient? Water saving toilets clog your sewer pipes? Where do you find this information?.

The most efficient cooktops are induction. Where I live, water is sometimes scarce -- we have to be mindful of water usage.

CD

 

[Termyn8or]

Wow. Not sure what to say. Electric stoves nearly 100-percent efficient? Water saving toilets clog your sewer pipes? Where do you find this information?.

The most efficient cooktops are induction. Where I live, water is sometimes scarce -- we have to be mindful of water usage.

CD

Information is from real life and a bit of applied physics. Any stove in the kitchen is near 100 effeciency because all the heat stays in, none goes out the chimney. The waste in electricity is only the red glow of the element(s) because it is light, not heat. With gas, part of the energy goes to make the flue gases, that is the only inefficiency.

Actually the main best efficiency is heating the house.

I see the sewers clogging and find if we flush and flush with just water the problems abate or do not come. in this area much of this piping is very old. When we call the guy to snake it out to the street, it is more like a drill bit down there as it grinds through roots that have breached the old clay pipe. They got cameras and can show you. Now if you got nice clean sewer pipes it is probably OK, but we do not.

I have to agree that induction is the most efficient cooking. It does not waste much heat into the air. It does not have the side effect of heating the house. I had one for a short time but gave up because I would have to buy new cookware. Mine was mostly aluminum and stainless, neither of which work well with induction.

Watts and heat are very related mathematically. cutting the power means cutting the heat.

T

 

[caseydog]

Information is from real life and a bit of applied physics. Any stove in the kitchen is near 100 effeciency because all the heat stays in, none goes out the chimney. The waste in electricity is only the red glow of the element(s) because it is light, not heat. With gas, part of the energy goes to make the flue gases, that is the only inefficiency.

Actually the main best efficiency is heating the house.

I see the sewers clogging and find if we flush and flush with just water the problems abate or do not come. in this area much of this piping is very old. When we call the guy to snake it out to the street, it is more like a drill bit down there as it grinds through roots that have breached the old clay pipe. They got cameras and can show you. Now if you got nice clean sewer pipes it is probably OK, but we do not.

I have to agree that induction is the most efficient cooking. It does not waste much heat into the air. It does not have the side effect of heating the house. I had one for a short time but gave up because I would have to buy new cookware. Mine was mostly aluminum and stainless, neither of which work well with induction.

Watts and heat are very related mathematically. cutting the power means cutting the heat.

T

Once again, wow. Watts and heat are not mathematically tied to each other, any more than watts and light. The more light or heat you make with the fewest watts, the more efficient your light bulbs or heat source are. Why do you get the same lumens from a 12 Watt LED bulb as you get from a 60 Watt incandescent bulb?

As for the plumbing issue, the problem is the clay pipe, not the low water usage toilet. Switch to PVC pipe, and you won't have any need for a roto-rooter.

CD

 

[Termyn8or]

Watts and heat are not mathematically tied to each other,

Being an electronics designer, physics does not agree.

Watts are directly related to actual heat, not temperature. Like BTUs, it is convertible to that though that is not how it is done. Do not confuse heat energy with temperature, no matter what the units.

From page one of a Google query;

"A standard electric room heater may have a rating of 1,500 watts. Multiply the wattage of your unit by 3.41 per watt to calculate Btu." (bolded parts are them, from my search string)

Of course that is the simple answer. In real life if the element glows that is a loss of heat, and the resistance of the element also goes up reducing output. I know of no way to convert the lumens it might glow, I guess nobody ever worked on that. Unless it is in Advanced Level Physics by Nelkon and Parker. I am looking for a copy of that, mine was lost in a move. I don't move around anymore.

T

 

[rascal]

British thermal units, gotta love them.

Russ

 

[MrsDangermouse]

Like the shower, you get in there with that water saver and it takes 5 times as long to get your hair wet enough what have you saved ?

You would be surprised how effective a good water saving shower head can be: our motorhome has a 100 litre fresh water tank so of course we're frugal with water and the shower has a water saving shower head. My hair gets as wet just as quickly as it does in the main shower at home. I can shower and wash my hair in around 20 litres of water when we're travelling.

 

[Termyn8or]

"My hair gets as wet just as quickly as it does in the main shower at home"

The home probably also has a water saver. They are almost universal now. I have modified them and been pleased with the results.

There are many places in the world where water savers are a very good thing. But I live near a lake and water is dirt cheap. In the US those regulations should not be national because o the differecnnces between areas, but like car emissions, just incentivise it and et the states handle it.

T

 

[MrsDangermouse]

It is not yet clear what difference may exist between using the apartment stove top or the NuWave cooktop at this time. But I can tell you that the apartment stove top heats unevenly, takes longer to get hot and takes much longer to cool down. The NuWave heats quickly and evenly heats only the parts of the pot or pan touching its surface. It cools down instantly except where the hot pot or pan is still in contact. Remove the pot or pan and the NuWave cools almost instantly, allowing it to be touched.

It sounds like your apartment hob is either solid hot plate or electric coil - I totally agree with you, these aren't great to cook on. Your NuWave is induction is almost certainly a bit more efficient as not much heat is lost into the atmosphere around the pan, but unless you are paying a very high unit rate, you probably won't notice much difference in you bills.

When I changed my hob from gas to ceramic I looked into whether the induction would be more expensive to run (because here gas is cheaper per kWh than electricity). It seems the consensus is that although the unit cost of electricity is higher, gas hobs are less than 50% efficient because a lot of the energy is wasted into the room. Whereas induction tend to be around 80% efficient - which makes up for the higher energy cost. For comparison purposes, solid plate and coil electric hobs are usually around 75% efficient.

I look at ROI (Return on Investment) when deciding what energy saving appliances make sense. I spent extra money for high efficiency air conditioning systems when I replaced mine, because the extra money I spent would pay for itself fairly quickly in reduced electric bills.

This is kind of how I look at energy saving, though I don't mind paying a bit extra for a more efficient appliance even if the ROI isn't great...because its one way of doing my bit and contributing to reducing emissions.

The home probably also has a water saver. They are almost universal now. I have modified them and been pleased with the results.

There are many places in the world where water savers are a very good thing. But I live near a lake and water is dirt cheap.

No, the shower at home is a rainfall shower and its incredibly wasteful in water

Water may be cheap where you live, but it also requires power to process and deliver it so reducing consumption can help address climate issues. Also, if some areas have a surplus of water it can be shared with other areas which don't.

I'm always looking to reduce our impact to make up for the fact that we're very high electricity users: we run at about 17kWh per day on average (higher in the winter and lower in the summer of course). And most of that is used by the hot tub (pre-hot tub we ran at around 7kWh) And on top of that we have an average of 19kWh of gas for heating (and until recently cooking), and about 220 litres of water.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I don't like electric stoves. They can be too confusing at times, & either the wrong burner is on, or they can be forgotten & still be left on. But most new apts have them. They've done away with gas stoves. Electric is supposed to be safer than gas. We all have one in our apts.