Cooking with less Energy
Although cooking uses a relatively small amount of energy compared to heating, lighting, and the use of heavy househould appliances, it still is worth reducing. Of course there are a lot of well-known tips, like using a pressure cooker or a microwave to reheat already cooked food. But I want to keep it much simpler here.
Most people heat their ovens and electric furnaces for every dish they prepare. It would save almost half the energy if more dishes could be cooked at once. And with some culinary genious the food ought not be less tasty.
Let me give an everyday example: chopping potatoes in thin slices cooks them at least three times faster. Doing this cooking in the very same pan as you fry your meat in, you use a third of the energy or even less. Don’t hesitate to throw some beans or other vegetables in there, too, last minute since we want them as fresh as we want our planet. Do not forget to close the pan.
It’s all about an instinct most of us unfortunately lack: the instinct of using as little energy as possible to achieve your goals. I think it’s fun to try to cut down energy use in such everyday situations and to find other ways to do so all the time.
For those of us who like numbers:
An electric surface unit for cooking, operated at full power for one hour uses about 7.4 kWh. Let’s say a normal meal is cooked using half power for 30 minutes, resulting in about 1.8 kWh energy usage. Cutting this to one third, we save 1.2 kWh, which amounts to 1.2*0.43=516 g Co 2. So enjoy your meal with half a kilo less carbon dioxide in the air!
(numbers from hyperphysics and this Co2 Calculator)
Some good Energy Tips concerning Cooking are at this Australian site