Earlier this month, gas stoves exploded into the news. Overnight, it seems everyone had an opinion. What's going on? With campaigner Sage Welch, I dig into how this controversy arose, the science informing it, how the politics are shaping up, and what it portends for the future of decarbonization.
10 years ago, I was considering a commercial gas range (big-boy BTUs) but getting one would require an elaborate ventilation and fire suppression system that was 5X the cost of the range (which wasn't cheap to start with). The cost, and not the other benefits I was ignorant of at the time, started me down the induction pathway. We ended up with two commercial, Cooktek hobs that are more powerful than the gas alternatives we were considering. They were also cheaper, and did not require crazy venting or fire suppression. Much later, I learned about the climate and the health benefits of this choice and couldn't be happier.
Cool, one does not need to get rid of the gas stove, just don't use it much. Get an electric tea pot, an "Instant Pot" an electric hot plate and mini oven, and good to go. Still have the gas for a back up if you are paranoid.
I love this interview. I’d never heard of Sage but think she should be in charge of... something... , keeping our positivity up... , cabinet member for driving the clean energy transition..., debating fossil fuel dinosaurs... I don’t know what but she was great.
I switched to a couple induction hot plates and shut off my pilot light and gas stove years ago. I love the hot plates couldn't afford one of those expensive induction stoves. I'm pretty much all electric these days including my vehicle and I find these idiots screeching like 2-year-olds to be absurd. Of course all of this is stoked by the fossil fuels industry by spewing erroneous garbage. We are in the age of Idiocracy
This sounds similar to the controversy over covid vaccines. Apparently, too many conservatives are willing to die for their beliefs--as the statistics keep telling us that unvaccinated people are the dominant population dying from covid. Hopefully, this pattern does not persist with fossil fuel use.
I have seen (on Youtube) a one "burner" portable induction hotplate, which would be perfect for me as a renter. My question is how many Watts do these induction plates pull?
Here's something people ought to think about -- especially people all up and down the US west coast, where the Cascadia Subduction Zone quake ("The Big One") is overdue to occur ...anyplace that has any earthquake risk at all ought to be making a beeline for getting rid of the catastrophe distribution network ...
"A deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey late tonight has caused damage in Syria, and was felt in Lebanon, and Israel, as well. It has collapsed buildings, sparked fires in ruptured gas lines, and prompted Italian authorities to warn of potential tsunami waves. Aftershocks, including one of 6.7 magnitude and another of 5.6, have continued to hit in the wake of the first quake."
Ok, I'm almost terrified to ask what may be seen as absurdly dumb, but would it be a super-efficient and high-temp home oven if we made it an induction oven to go with the induction rangetop?
That is, could someone making an induction range top make the oven box so that it has fixed rectangular conductive panels (top, sides, bottom, and back) with a door in the front so that you dial in the desired temp and the volts heat the conductive panels which heat the interior space . . .
And ideally, you can use the bottom panel like a pizza steel -- since it's more efficient than resistance heating, we could get higher home oven temps for the same power draw (or save power whenever cooking at more normal temperatures).
Could this be a thing that the people creating oven/battery combinations could offer?
Shouldn’t there now be a class action lawsuit against the gas industry around asthma and other health concerns? Nothing takes the money out of the machine like mass class action lawsuits.
You shouldn't undersell these fantastic interviews. It's quite a skill to just magic up these amazing podcast guests at a moment's notice.
I can just imagine all the gas stove, gas fireplace, and even wood fireplace pollution my family and I have been exposed to over the years. I guess all those nights sitting directly in front of those kerosene space heaters back in the frozen winters of the 1980s weren't such a great idea either.
I thought this episode would raise my blood pressure, but it turned out to be medicine. I went in skeptical, but the guest makes a compelling case that this moment will shake out in environmentalist's favor, and the MAGA pundits are doing a major own goal. Really needed to hear that.
35:00 What a mind-blowing thing to learn that this research was going well, and then just shut down in the 80s after the natural gas lobby came in. Also that most of California NOx pollution comes from private indoor gas cooking. Just so many mindblowing things here. Great stuff.
10 years ago, I was considering a commercial gas range (big-boy BTUs) but getting one would require an elaborate ventilation and fire suppression system that was 5X the cost of the range (which wasn't cheap to start with). The cost, and not the other benefits I was ignorant of at the time, started me down the induction pathway. We ended up with two commercial, Cooktek hobs that are more powerful than the gas alternatives we were considering. They were also cheaper, and did not require crazy venting or fire suppression. Much later, I learned about the climate and the health benefits of this choice and couldn't be happier.
Win, win, win, win.
Cool, one does not need to get rid of the gas stove, just don't use it much. Get an electric tea pot, an "Instant Pot" an electric hot plate and mini oven, and good to go. Still have the gas for a back up if you are paranoid.
I love this interview. I’d never heard of Sage but think she should be in charge of... something... , keeping our positivity up... , cabinet member for driving the clean energy transition..., debating fossil fuel dinosaurs... I don’t know what but she was great.
Thanks!
I switched to a couple induction hot plates and shut off my pilot light and gas stove years ago. I love the hot plates couldn't afford one of those expensive induction stoves. I'm pretty much all electric these days including my vehicle and I find these idiots screeching like 2-year-olds to be absurd. Of course all of this is stoked by the fossil fuels industry by spewing erroneous garbage. We are in the age of Idiocracy
This sounds similar to the controversy over covid vaccines. Apparently, too many conservatives are willing to die for their beliefs--as the statistics keep telling us that unvaccinated people are the dominant population dying from covid. Hopefully, this pattern does not persist with fossil fuel use.
I have seen (on Youtube) a one "burner" portable induction hotplate, which would be perfect for me as a renter. My question is how many Watts do these induction plates pull?
Here's something people ought to think about -- especially people all up and down the US west coast, where the Cascadia Subduction Zone quake ("The Big One") is overdue to occur ...anyplace that has any earthquake risk at all ought to be making a beeline for getting rid of the catastrophe distribution network ...
"A deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey late tonight has caused damage in Syria, and was felt in Lebanon, and Israel, as well. It has collapsed buildings, sparked fires in ruptured gas lines, and prompted Italian authorities to warn of potential tsunami waves. Aftershocks, including one of 6.7 magnitude and another of 5.6, have continued to hit in the wake of the first quake."
Ok, I'm almost terrified to ask what may be seen as absurdly dumb, but would it be a super-efficient and high-temp home oven if we made it an induction oven to go with the induction rangetop?
That is, could someone making an induction range top make the oven box so that it has fixed rectangular conductive panels (top, sides, bottom, and back) with a door in the front so that you dial in the desired temp and the volts heat the conductive panels which heat the interior space . . .
And ideally, you can use the bottom panel like a pizza steel -- since it's more efficient than resistance heating, we could get higher home oven temps for the same power draw (or save power whenever cooking at more normal temperatures).
Could this be a thing that the people creating oven/battery combinations could offer?
Shouldn’t there now be a class action lawsuit against the gas industry around asthma and other health concerns? Nothing takes the money out of the machine like mass class action lawsuits.
You shouldn't undersell these fantastic interviews. It's quite a skill to just magic up these amazing podcast guests at a moment's notice.
I can just imagine all the gas stove, gas fireplace, and even wood fireplace pollution my family and I have been exposed to over the years. I guess all those nights sitting directly in front of those kerosene space heaters back in the frozen winters of the 1980s weren't such a great idea either.
IKEA sells induction appliances! Here’s a link on different types of energy I hope you’ll enjoy.
https://youtu.be/eoHUiX-jsk4
“I can’t afford to get an induction stove or a ventilation fan for our home we own”
“Didn’t you just spend $3,000 on a doodle?”
“I am not going to get a ventilation fan, nor am I going to replace the gas stove in the home we own, because we can’t afford it.”
“Didn’t you just spend $3,000 on a doodle?”
Silence… just not a priority. Sigh.
Great episode! I would love to look at some of the studies/research she mentions in
the podcast. Can we possibly get some links?
Thanks.
I thought this episode would raise my blood pressure, but it turned out to be medicine. I went in skeptical, but the guest makes a compelling case that this moment will shake out in environmentalist's favor, and the MAGA pundits are doing a major own goal. Really needed to hear that.
35:00 What a mind-blowing thing to learn that this research was going well, and then just shut down in the 80s after the natural gas lobby came in. Also that most of California NOx pollution comes from private indoor gas cooking. Just so many mindblowing things here. Great stuff.