There has been lot of discussions on alternate energies here on Praja. However was also looking at alternate methods to cook at home.
We got a induction stove free along with a bunch of non-stick utensils few months ago..as usual the utensils were put to use immediately and the stove was put aside untill I got some time to experiment. Tried heating water for the first time on it and was plesantly surprised because the bowl of water was boiling in flat 10 seconds !!
And the other very interesting fact was that the water itself was boiling and the vessel itself was relatively cool..I could pour out the water with bare hands without tongs!
Now after few months, about 40-50% of the cooking at home is happening on the induction stove itself. Everything from using the cooker to making dosas is done on it. The only clause to using the stove is to have a stainless steel vessel..which almost all our households have..
The hike in electricity costs have been negligible, for a 3 member household, the bill has gone by less than 100 Rs per month.
Some of the concerns taken care of by induction cooking is:
- Control raising costs of LPG.
- Inefficient heat management, losses are more with LPG
- Petroleum imports controlled in a small way
- even faster cooking than microwave and does not need specialized cookware either
Would seriously encourage all to get onto induction cooking cos the advantages are compelling!
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50% more efficient..
wiki says the studies have reported that induction cooktops are 50% more effiecient than gas cooktops..and the efficiency of energy transfer for an induction hob is 84%
It also says "This form of flameless cooking has certain advantages over conventional gas flame and electric cookers, as it provides rapid heating, improved thermal efficiency, and greater heat consistency, yet with precise control similar to gas"
Induction stoves
Some 6-7 years ago, there was this German company marketing their induction cooking set, costing some 1.25 lakhs (full set with utensils), & they were not prepared to sell 'a-la-carte' (ie. few selected items). It's nice to hear that now, these stoves are being given away freely !
Whilst there is no doubt that efficiencies are very high, the concern is that it uses electricity, which can be more expensive than gas. A gas cylinder typically costs Rs.425/- (or thereabouts) & lasts 45 days. This is less than 10rs /day. With power, the costs can vary basis actual additional units consumed. For small households, if 2-3 additional units are consumed, it might be cheaper & may make sense with faster cooking thrown in, but in medium & large households, cost of power for cooking will become more expensive than gas.
cost is around 2,500 Rs..
A decent induction stove will cost around 2,500 Rs and the package with non-stick cookware in Perstige make is costing around 4,000 Rs..
There are other brands too out there..
Srinidhi, can you figure out
Srinidhi, can you figure out how many units it takes? we can then work out costs from there to compare with gas.
Gas or electricity - which is cheaper for cooking?
Naveen says Gas, as in subsidized gas. Take unsubsidized gas, which is almost double the cost of sarkaari Gas. And then take these induction stoves, which would be cheaper for cooking?
cheap aint the only factor
Roughly running costs comes at around the same price as the subsidized gas. However its sure a huge saving when compared to nonsarkari gas as SB says.
Cost is not the only factor for deciding here as said earlier:
This is like solar energy for electricity..u dont replace bescom but make best use of the alternate energy source..
Remember the well to wheel efficiency
As we go about evaluating whether induction cookers are better or gas stoves, remember the concept of well to wheel efficiency. The electricity that your induction cooker uses is in all probability made in a power plant buring dirty coal. So it is not really pollution free.
Doing a crude calculation, if a 14.2 kg cylinder comes for 45 days, you are using 0.315 kg of LPG per day. (Does 14.2 include weight of the cylinder... I am not sure. Assuming No). Based on the heating value of LPG at 46 MJ/kg, that is 14.5 MJ of heat per day.
Now we assume that the same heat is used in a power plant working at 40% efficiency. This will mean that 5.8MJ of power or basically about 1.6 units of electricity can be produced with the gas.
If you now assume that this gas goes through a 60% efficient state of the art combined cycle power plant, then you can produce 2.4 units of electricity with that LPG.
These are just some numbers. I am not looking at energy expended in transporting the LPG or in transporting the coal that burns in the power plant etc. here.