Climate

8512 readers

399 users here now

Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:

Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

silence7@slrpnk.net

117

Why thousands of New Yorkers swap gas for induction stoves in clean energy push: ‘It makes sense; States from California to Georgia are promoting induction stoves for climate, health and cost benefits (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/climate@slrpnk.net

82 comments fedilink hide all child comments

They've got a quite unusual stove that's got a large battery in it so that it can operate when the power is off, and doesn't need the installation of a 240v power connection. This avoids the cost of an electrical retrofit of old apartment buildings, which otherwise costs far more.

If you've already got your home wired for 240v, you can get an induction stove for far less.

These battery-equipped stoves are expensive right now because they're being made in quite small numbers. The parts needed are coming down in price quite rapidly, so I expect to see them sold in the $2000/unit price range within a few years.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I guess the fact that they use an antiquated electrical grid system (110v) make things much harder for them to switch.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Your guess is wrong. Standard American electrical service is 220v. Our transformers are center tapped so if you measure from neutral to either of the two hots, you get 110v, and across both hots is 220v. Standard outlets are wired for 110, things like stoves, dryers, water heaters and HVAC units are wired for 220. I could go out and buy an induction range this afternoon and it would slot right in where my glass top electric range is.

Why have Americans been slow to move away from gas stoves or to induction stoves? Well...

Natural gas has remained very cheap in the United States. The United States has tremendous domestic natural gas reserves, so the pressure to move to other cooking fuels hasn't really existed here like it did elsewhere.
Earlier electric ranges, the ones with exposed coils, were legitimately inferior. They're harder to do much other than boil water on because of how slow they are to heat and cool. They're still seen as downmarket landlord specials today. Ceramic cooktop electrics were trendy for awhile.
Early induction stoves were quite expensive, to the point of being gimmicky.
Induction cooktops diddn't work with the majority of popular American cookware. From the 60's to the 90's, trendy cookware such as Corningware ceramic, Pyrex borosilicate glass, Calphalon aluminum, Revereware copper jacketed stainless, and solid copper don't work with induction stoves. In the 21st century, most pans made have been built with induction in mind, so your typical household now doesn't have to replace their cookware along with their stove.

None of that supports your America Bad narrative so you won't pay attention to it though.

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Earlier electric ranges, the ones with exposed coils, were legitimately inferior. They’re harder to do much other than boil water on because of how slow they are to heat and cool. They’re still seen as downmarket landlord specials today. Ceramic cooktop electrics were trendy for awhile.

Technology Connections made a great video that touched on resistive stoves which showed how to overcome their slower thermal responsiveness, which I've used for most of my life to great effect. Once you know the trick of how to use them, they're quite easy to cook almost anything on.

[–] sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Almost every American home has 240V coming in, with 2 hot wires with 120V AC exactly 180° out of phase with each other, and a neutral wire that's supposed to be roughly ground voltage. The standard is to split the 240V into 120V for each circuit at the actual breaker panel, by feeding each normal circuit in the house one hot and one neutral wire. But setting up a particular circuit for 240V service is trivial by using both hot wires.

And the actual distribution grid itself, before it hits the transformer that steps it down to 240V right before actual customer meters, is going to be much, much higher voltage in any country. Higher voltage means less line loss, so power lines use high voltage. That part doesn't differ significantly between countries.

[–] Klajan@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I know that our Electric stovetop is connected to the 400v Three Phase circuit.

So even with 240v mains power the Stove is usually connected to a circuit with the highest available power.

But even the 240v plug in induction stovetops have plenty power for cooking.

[–] sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

I'm curious whether voltage even matters, and what the wattage of each burner is, and what the total power max for the whole stove is.

A typical US stove draws either 40A or 50A at 240V, so that's a max power of about 12,000W. But each burner is usually limited to something about 5000-7500W.

With induction, the heat is efficiently placed right into the pan, so actual performance probably matches a lower nominal power resistive stove (or gas stove).