Mike Hartigan wrote:
I recently had a discussion with a friend who recently replaced his
kitchen range. He said that he didn't even consider natural gas
because the price has taken a dramatic jump in the past year, making
electric cooking much cheaper. His perception of the relative cost
may or may not be true - I don't know (although I suspect that NG is
and will continue to be more economical for the foreseeable future).

Which will be cheaper depends on a large number of factors including
things like how well his pans fit the burners. In any case it is not likely
that he is going to save anything over pocket change between the two.

I wonder if your friend knows that a lot of electrical power is produced
from natural gas.


The discussion went off on a tangent regarding the efficiency of a
gas range vs a gas furnace. Given that gas burners heat the kitchen,
they obviously take some of the load off of the furnace (cooking
during the heating season is assumed here). But an intriguing
thought occurred to me - since the range is not vented to the outside
like the furnace is, all of the heat generated by the burning gas
remains in the house. This means that the more you cook, the lower
your gas bill should be, even with un ultra high efficiency furnace.
Is this true? Should I encourage my wife to bake more cookies for
the purpose of saving energy? Can it be that simple?

This one is much the same. There are many factors involved. Modern
furnaces are 90% and more efficient. With the disadvantages like the ones
Stretch pointed out, it would be very difficult to make up that 5-10%
potential advantage.


Granted, there's a downside to heating your home with the kitchen
range. But is my speculation valid?

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit