Appliances powered by natural gas can help a household reduce its carbon footprint by over 40% in comparison with one solely using electric appliances.
Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel as it emits less greenhouse gases than the fuels burned to generate electricity. In fact, appliances powered by natural gas can help a household reduce its carbon footprint by over 40% in comparison with one solely using electric appliances1. Furthermore, many natural gas appliances are incredibly energy efficient, which helps to protect both the environment and your bank balance!
Gas cooktops are generally both cheaper to run and produce less greenhouse gas emissions of an equivalent electric model. Currently there are no schemes in place to label gas cooktops for energy efficiency as there are with electric appliances, making it harder to quickly compare gas and electric cooktops but your monthly bill will speak for itself.
When it comes to energy efficiency, gas cooktops beat standard electrical cooktops every time. Before it is even switched on, around three times as much energy is consumed to produce and deliver electricity to an electric cooktop. When in use, electric cooktops tend to produce more waste heat as the surface continues to stay hot after it is turned off. Not so with a gas cooktop, which stops producing heat as soon as the flame is extinguished.
The newest development in burner technology serves to further increase gas cooktop energy efficiency. Rather than the traditional ‘flower’ gas burners, ‘vertical’ flame burners are used to concentrate the heat up to the pot so that as little as possible escapes into the surrounding air.
It may seem obvious but only use as much gas as you need - keep the flame as low as possible for your cooking requirements. Sometimes the liquid in a dish will require a reduction and therefore need to burn off but, where possible, keep lids tightly on the pans to trap the heat, allowing you to keep the flame lower. Ensuring you use the right sized pot or pan for the burner will also cut your energy consumption - placing a small pan on a large burner can waste a whopping 40% of the heat emitted. It also pays to keep an eye on the colour of the flame. If it turns yellow or orange rather than blue (indicating it’s not getting as hot as it should be) it’s a sign your cooktop isn’t operating efficiently so call your gas company to check there isn’t a leak and then schedule a service with the manufacturer.
1 http://www.nasdaq.com/article/study-natural-gas-plants-release-40-less-co2-cm318958#ixzz33WoUAcSZ