Page 15: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2023)

4. Electric energy can be sustainably provided and natural gas cannot 5. Since there are better technical and environmental solutions, there is absolutely no reason to continue to use gas stoves.

Some of my readers may go: What? No! Electric cooktops suck!

Please do yourself a favor and get the dope on induction cook tops. They are magically good, respond faster than gas stoves, are safer, cost no more than gas stoves, use less energy and are easier to clean. Yes, you need pans that work on induction stoves, but you may very well already own such pans without knowing it, and pans are much less expensive than stoves.

Having said that, let me make a confession. My gas stove broke last year (A leaking valve that would cost more to ? x than the cost of the whole range). I went to the store and looked at induction stoves and then went: “I just don’t have the time and mental energy to ? nd an electrician and wait for him to show up and install a 240 VAC outlet near my stove.

I’ll just get another gas stove”.

Due to a momentary lack of energy, I am now remarried to a gas stove for another 30 years or so. That is despite the fact that on my boat I have a $300 two burner 1500W induction cooktop that is better and cheaper than any gas cooktop that is available for installation on a boat.

When I confessed my bad decision to a friend of mine, she sent me links to two startups that are going to produce con- vection stoves with built in batteries. Since stoves run intermit- tently, and only for short periods at maximum power, that is a wonderful hybrid solution that ? xes two issues: power out- ages and the need to install 240VAC outlets. Once the stove is charged, 1500W with battery backup will always be enough to keep the stove properly powered. A classic hybrid solution, that immediately points to additional bene? ts such as having battery power to keep a nearby fridge running during a power outage.

So what is the cause of this whole debate?

To some extent it is public ignorance. Induction stoves have been around for 40 years, but somehow never became part of the public stove discussion. Less than 5% of all stoves are induction stoves.

However, I am going to blame the original publishers of the air quality studies. Somehow these researchers found it to be more important to report a problem than a solution.

There were two ways to convey their ? ndings: “Bad news!

Gas stoves may be killing your kids” or “Good news! The negative effects of gas stoves can be forever solved with a simple switch to induction stoves”. Somehow researcher deci- sion making skills don’t match their research skills. As engi- neers, let’s not make the same mistake.

For each column I write, MREN has agreed to make a small donation to an organization of my choice. For this column

I select No Limits Café. Induction for Cooking Instruction. https://www.nolimitscafe.org/

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