There are many issues about health risks due to open combustion in homes, especially from gas stoves. Nobody wants to get exposed to those combustion products. The best outside venting hoods can't remove these combustion products completely, which are produced when cooking using gas.
The natural gas emits about 117 pounds of carbon dioxide to produce million British Thermal Units (1 BTU = 1 055.05585 joules) of heat. And US produces carbon dioxide on an average of 401.5 pounds per million BTU.
The advantages of using a gas stove are:
- Accuracy - You can reduce the flame as and when you require and the change in heat is immediate. But that is not possible in an electric stove because the heat changes at a slow rate.
- Flatness - The tops of electric stoves are flat so that the heat is uniformly distributed. Flatness is not an important factor when it comes to gas stoves because they heat is produces by flame.
- Burners - The sealed burners in gas stoves can easily be cleaned. But cleaning the coil burners used in electric stoves is difficult.
- Power - Gas stoves don't require power to cook food. But electric stoves can't be used when there are power cuts.
But gas stoves release nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide. A recent study in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says that:
'Gas burners add up to 25-34% indoor nitrogen dioxide concentrations in summer and 35-40% during winter. There is variation between seasons because of the air ventilation is low during winter. Ans gas stoves contribute up to 30% during the summer and 20% during winter to indoor air concentration. This model says that, homes without venting hoods, household exposures exceeded the benchmarks set by federal and state health standards.'
In cold climates, people don't use vents as they send warm sir outside. And moreover, hoods are noisy, not that effective too, and blocked by greasy filters.
After reading this, I think it seems silly to be concerned about VOCs and ignoring about the combustion products that come from gas burners at home. And moreover, electric stoves are cheap, you need not worry about the risks of fire as there is no open flame. So, its better to live electrically, if we have access to green sources of energy.
Tags: Green energy, electric stove, gas burner, Eco friendly, ventilation, gas stove, carbon emission, kitchen, indoors, hoods, conservation, VOCs, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, technology, why is electric stove better than gas stove
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