Now a little backstory and context.

Saul Griffith, Alex Laskey and Ari Matusiak started Rewiring America in 2020, around the same time I started Carbon Switch. Heat pump world is a small world, so it wasn’t long before we all met. On my first call with Alex, he told me about their plan to convince Congress to pass legislation with billions of dollars of incentives for people to electrify everything. At the time, I remember thinking that there was no way this small team of less than 5 people could accomplish something so ambitious. But I was wrong.

In just two years, Rewiring America has become one of the most influential nonprofits in the climate movement. They successfully convinced Congress to include tens of billions of dollars worth of electrification incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act. They’ve convinced some of the most talented people in their respective fields to join the team. And they’re just getting started.

All the guides, reviews, and articles that I’ve produced over the last two years will still live under the Carbon Switch brand and website. But as a part of this partnership, I’ll be stepping down from my full-time role and producing independent stories about climate change.

If you’re interested in following my work and reading my new stories, you can subscribe for email updates here or follow me on Twitter.

We’re planning to share more details on this partnership in the coming weeks and months. But in the meantime, if you know of any talented folks who are interested in writing about heat pumps and all things electrification, send them our way. Rewiring America is hiring a writer to produce guides and reviews for the Carbon Switch website.

* Why the asterisks? Well, I’m technically donating all the assets of Carbon Switch to Rewiring America. But “The assets of Carbon Switch are being donated to Rewiring America” just sounds… clunky and confusing.

The post Rewiring America Is Acquiring Carbon Switch appeared first on Carbon Switch.

Induction stoves are becoming more popular, as more people look at removing gas from their home. Up to one-third of people plan to consider induction for their next range.

But only having had two real options for decades, people might wonder how much a switch to induction really costs. So we asked homeowners who took the induction leap to look up their receipts and share how much it costs to install their stoves. We also priced out the best-selling and most well-reviewed induction stoves at appliance stores.

Here’s what 90 recent induction stove buyers told us it cost them to buy and set up their induction stoves and ranges.

Average cost of an induction stove

Among the 90 people who responded to our survey, the average cost of their induction stove was $2,231. They ranged in price from $600 to $9,200, though only four of them cost more than about $4,000.

Induction prices

We surveyed the best-selling models at Home Depot, Lowes, and Best Buy, and priced out the best-reviewed models on editorial review sites. We saw a price range of roughly $1,100 to $4,400 for the most popular models. 

There’s a noticeable jump between standard models costing as little as $1,100, and feature-rich models costing $3,000 or more. The higher-priced models tend to have the knobs that some cooks strongly prefer to touch-sensitive controls.

Electrical work and installation

Many homes that were built with gas stoves don’t have the proper electrical wiring for induction stoves. So we asked a few questions about the cost of electrical work.

Among those we surveyed, only 15 people (about 16%) said they had to upgrade their electrical panel, and 11 of them did so as part of a larger remodel or construction project. 

39 people (43%) had a new 220-volt outlet installed and wired for their stove, but it was part of a larger project for 20 of them.

Unsurprisingly the percentage of homeowners that had to pay for electrical work was higher among those switching from gas stoves than traditional electric. 59 people (65%) that switched from gas had to pay for electrical work. By comparison, only 4 (13%) people that switched from a traditional electric stove had to pay for electrical work.

The average cost for all the electrical work was $987 among homeowners that had to pay for this work.

Some noted that their induction stove was part of a wider project to upgrade their electrical systems. For example, one homeowner wanted to “Bring a 1950s kitchen up to code”. A handful of people were making room for not just an induction stove, but also rewiring for an electric vehicle charger. One respondent planned to replace their furnace and hot water heater, presumably with a heat pump and hybrid water heater.

Rebates (or lack thereof)

Only three of our 90 respondents reported receiving rebates for their induction stove upgrade: $300, $380, and $600, for stoves that were relatively expensive. 

We didn’t ask where they received rebates, but given the lack of rebates available for switching to induction, we assume these came from the manufacturers, not government programs.

Satisfaction and motivation

We also asked people how happy they were with their induction stove, and what motivated them to switch from what they had before. Their responses, on a scale of 1-10, averaged 9.25.

So why did the homeowners we surveyed choose to buy an induction stove? 

Cooking performance

• “Boils water quickly + very fine-grain control of heat”
• “Easy to clean, fast heating, good looking, has an air fryer and convection baking in oven”
• “We have a family that cooks, and small children. No way would I let my daughter cook on a gas stove. [Induction has] little heat transfer to the glass (while it gets hot, it’s not that hot).”
  

Indoor air quality

• “Better control, better air quality, safer, push the technology forward”
• “Did not want new gas stove due to excessive heating in the kitchen and poor indoor air quality”
• “Indoor pollution—kids.”

Sustainability

• “First step to get natural gas out of my new construction”
• “Last thing to electrify whole house, now have to remove gas meter”
• “Stop burning natural gas inside the home”

Is induction worth the cost?

Compared to a gas stove, induction is safer, healthier, and easier to clean. Gas cooking has been shown to increase the risk of asthma in children by 42%.

Gas stoves are also bad for the environment. The methane that leaks from gas stoves every year—just the functioning stove, not any gas lines—has the same emissions potential as 500,000 gasoline-powered cars on the road.

For most homeowners deciding between an induction versus electric stove, it’s really a question of how much you’re willing to pay for a better cooking experience. 

Many professional chef’s love induction stoves. But the reality is that many people either don’t cook that much, or don’t really care about the performance of their stove. 

So if money’s tight, and the idea of a more responsive cooktop doesn’t speak to you, we recommend going with a traditional electric stove. Otherwise, splurge and get the induction stove.

But whatever you do, don’t install another gas stove. Electrifying your home, with as many efficient devices as possible, helps move us all closer to a world without fossil fuels. And that’s a world we can all aspire to.

The post How Much Does an Induction Stove Cost? appeared first on Carbon Switch.

This week we published two guides comparing the different options homeowners have when it comes to getting a new stove: one on induction vs. gas stoves and another on induction vs. traditional electric stoves.

Friends don’t let friends install gas stoves

Readers of this newsletter won’t be surprised to learn that we recommend induction stoves over gas stoves. Cooking with gas stoves causes indoor air pollution and may be one of the leading causes of child asthma in America.

Just this week, the American Medical Association voted on a new policy position, stating that gas cooking “increases household air pollution and the risk of childhood asthma and asthma severity.”

Gas stoves are also bad for the environment. The methane that leaks from gas stoves every year—just the functioning stove, not any gas lines—has the same emissions potential as 500,000 gasoline-powered cars on the road.

But how does an induction stove compare to a traditional electric cooktop?

Induction doesn’t save much electricity

Many people hear that induction stoves are more energy efficient than electric stoves and think that makes them the clear environmentally-friendly choice. But the truth is that the energy savings aren’t much to write home about.

According to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), the average home uses 11,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year. Only 1.4% (140 kWh) of that electricity is used for cooking. Induction stoves are about 10% more efficient than electric stoves. So we’re talking about 14 kWh of savings.

To put that in perspective, consider that switching to a heat pump water heater will save you 2,000-4,000 kWh. Even switching a single LED bulb will save you more electricity (35 kWh per year) than an induction stove.

You’re paying for a better cooking experience

So what’s the appeal of induction over traditional electric? It mostly comes down to cooking performance. Many professional chefs will tell you it’s a superior experience. It’s lightning fast, responsive, and easier to clean up when you’re done.

But that better performance comes with a cost. As Kevin writes in our guide:

“Browsing major appliance vendors, electric stoves cost between $550-$2,000, from the most basic, exposed-coil, knob-operated model to flat-top, air-frying models that clean themselves with steam.​

In the same stores, most induction stoves start at $1,200 and run up to $2,000, within mainstream brands and common sizes. Premium models with more features start at $3,000.”

So the decision of whether or not to choose induction is really a question of how much you’re willing to pay for a better cooking experience. If money’s tight, and the idea of a more responsive cooktop doesn’t speak to you, we recommend going with a traditional electric stove. Otherwise, we say splurge and get the induction stove.

But whatever you do, don’t install another gas stove. To quote Kevin: “Electrifying your home, with as many efficient devices as possible, helps move us all closer to a world without fossil fuels.” And that’s a world we can all aspire to.

The post Is Induction Really Better? appeared first on Carbon Switch.

If it’s time to replace your gas stove, or you’ve decided you’re no longer comfortable with indoor air pollution, you could be comparing an induction cooktop (or range) to gas.

If you’re willing to adapt your cooking style just a bit, there is almost no downside to induction. It’s faster, more efficient, and safer. It produces less ambient heat in your home and no harmful fumes. And it removes one more point of natural gas from your home, reducing your carbon impact and eliminating potential methane leaks. 

Induction stoves cost a bit more than gas, at least upfront, but given how much worse gas stoves are for human health, we think this is well worth the cost.

What is induction cooking? How is it different from gas?

A gas stove lights natural gas on fire, then controls the amount of gas flowing to that flame, either underneath a burner or inside a stove. That’s conduction: gas burns, the heat is conducted to your cookware, and your cookware then cooks your food.

Induction, by comparison, is direct heat. An electromagnet sitting just underneath the ceramic flat surface creates a magnetic field that reaches the pan sitting on it. That field induces a reaction with the metals in your pan that resist it, which warms the pan up and then cooks your food.

Induction has quite a few advantages over gas, including:

• Faster cooking, especially boiling liquids
• Faster response to temperature changes
• Less waste heat (cooler kitchen)
• Safer cooking without exposed flames
• Built-in timers and safety features against leaving a burner on
• Easier clean-up
• Eliminating the indoor air pollution of gas stoves
• No gas line capable of leaking
• Electrifying your home toward fewer carbon emissions

For far more information on induction cooking, and our recommendations on how to buy the right stove, check out our guide to induction stoves and cooktops.

Costs

Upfront purchase

New induction stoves cost more than new gas stoves. Some of this is to be expected, given that they’re a newer product category, and have more advanced capabilities (especially since most come with convection-driven, or “air fry,” electric ovens).

Shopping at big-box appliance stores, we saw a range of $550-$1,600 for a 30-inch or slide-in gas stove, at 5-6.5 cubic feet in size. There are certainly more expensive stoves, but we cut off the top range where prices started to jump for unique looks or attention-getting features.

The same sizes of induction stoves were $1,200 to $2,000 (similarly limited to mainstream models without expensive upgrades). More expensive induction stoves tend to start at $3,000.

It’s worth noting, too, that many appliance stores and chains may not have induction models available for immediate, local pick-up and delivery—at least at this stage in induction’s growth. You can likely get delivery for free on such a significant online purchase—and possibly even installation, if your kitchen is ready for it.

Installation

Some people won’t need to pay much to install their stove, gas or induction, depending on what was there before. If your home already has a gas stove, buying another gas stove is the path of least resistance. Similarly, it’s easier to install an induction stove where an electric stove was before.

Induction stoves, like electric, require a dedicated 220-volt outlet, connected to a 40-50-amp circuit breaker. If you’re moving on from gas, you may need to install high-capacity wiring, a new outlet, and, potentially, upgrade your electrical panel. Finally, you will want to cap your gas line.

This is likely work for a licensed electrician (and plumber, if a gas cap is needed), and the costs would depend on your existing wiring and panel, the distance from the kitchen to the panel, and other variables in your home.

It’s not too likely, but if you’re choosing between induction and a gas stove for a home that doesn’t yet have a stove: don’t. Natural gas prices are soaring and volatile at the time of publication. Gas stoves produce potent greenhouse gasses like methane, which cause climate change. And probably worst of all, gas stoves produce harmful indoor air pollutants that dramatically increase the risk of respiratory illnesses like asthma.

Adding a gas line to a kitchen now, just for the sake of a gas stove, is not a great investment. If you’re not sold on induction as a cooking technology, you should, at a minimum, buy an electric stove. It’s better for your indoor air quality, for the planet, and if you or someone else wants to switch to induction later, it’s much easier.

Cookware

Image via Marco Verch Professional/Flickr.

Induction cooking requires pots and pans that react to magnetism. The simple test is to see if a magnet is attracted to the bottom; if it sticks, the pan is ready for induction. If not, you’ll need to invest in a few new pans.

Many pots and pans already work with induction, even if they’re not specifically labeled or sold as induction-ready. Cast iron, many kinds of steel (stainless or otherwise), some non-stick pans, and Dutch ovens (which are cast iron coated with glass). Nothing will go wrong if you use the wrong pan; the cooktop will simply give you an error and won’t heat it up.

Cooking techniques

Induction cooking, compared to a gas burner, allows for much faster heat-ups, quicker temperature changes, and safer cooking without flames or burning-hot surfaces. Induction converts 90% of its energy to cooking heat, versus 74% for an electric stove, and 40% for a gas stove.

Because the pan should stay in contact with the burner, you’re better off stirring with a utensil than grabbing the pan and flipping food around (you can still do it, you’ll just see an error and lose the power for a moment).

And the mental timings you might have for your techniques and recipes need adjusting, because your induction cooking will go much faster. You might not have as much time to prepare ingredients while other things are heating, and, at first, you’ll have to watch things more closely, like garlic and onions browning. But having a meal done quicker is certainly a nice perk.

If you choose an induction stove, you’ll get the same kind of oven as electric stoves. Increasingly, that means a stove labeled as offering “air frying.” Air frying is essentially a trendy rebrand of a convection oven, where circulating air provides more even heating and crispy/browned foods than a traditional radiant-heat electric oven. Gas stoves also offer air frying, but, as you might imagine, electric ovens are more consistent and accurate.

Appearance

Induction stoves look remarkably similar to most other stoves. It makes sense: they have the same kinds of oven space as electric or gas, and then the flat-top cooking surface of most modern electric stoves.

One notable change for many induction stoves is that they tend to feature buttons, or touch-sensitive panels, rather than the knobs common to gas stoves. That’s a benefit of the technology—you can set many finer temperatures or power levels on the stovetop than simply nudging a dial where you roughly want it. 

But if you prefer the control and feel of dials, or don’t trust touch panels not to break, you can find induction ovens with knobs.

Maintenance, repair, and care

Most of what you’ll need to do to keep an induction stove running are the same as for a gas or electric stove. The inner stove needs regular cleaning. The flat stovetop needs cleaning whenever possible. And ventilation is important, as for any cooking appliance.

Cleaning up an induction stove is notably easier than a gas stove. The heat is inside the pan, not literally flaming up from underneath, so both your stove and your pans pick up fewer marks and burns.

The most significant difference with induction cooktops is their ceramic-glass surfaces. They can scratch or scuff if certain cookware slides around on top of them. While they don’t get nearly as hot as traditional electric cooktops, food can still get crusted onto induction cooktops, if it gets trapped underneath the cookware. And if you drop a too-heavy pot or pan on the cooktop, it could chip, or even shatter. None of this is likely to happen with common, cautious cooking, but it’s worth noting.

Follow your stove’s instructions for the best cleaning and maintenance tips. These will typically involve wiping down when cool with a non-abrasive sponge, or a glass scraper for tough gunk.

Environmental benefits

As noted in our induction stove buyer’s guide, “natural gas” is great marketing for something that is mostly methane, a gas that is 80 times more potent at warming the earth than carbon dioxide. The methane that leaks from gas stoves every year—just the functioning stove, not any gas lines—has the same emissions potential as 500,000 gasoline-powered cars on the road.

Just as importantly, induction stoves run on electricity. The U.S.’ electrical supply has a lot of coal and natural gas behind it, but it’s quickly adding more renewables. By cutting off gas and electrifying your home, you’re setting yourself up (and the future people who own your home) to help move the nation, and world, away from burning fossil fuels for everyday needs.

Health benefits

There have been many studies showing that gas stoves are a major source of indoor pollution. Gas cooking has been shown to increase the risk of asthma in children by 42%. Almost no home in America has the kind of ventilation needed to clear the nitrogen dioxide emissions caused by gas stoves.

Carbon Switch founder Michael Thomas recently measured the contaminants his gas stove was releasing in his house, and was shocked at the direct impact gas cooking had on his household air. You can read more about it in “How bad is my gas stove? (Part Two).”

Are there any downsides to induction?

We’ve heard from some induction stove owners about annoyances with their stoves. One of them summarized the main problem: there isn’t a big enough induction market yet for stove makers to prioritize better interfaces and potential flaw fixes.

A big complaint from one user was the touch controls present on many induction cooktops. Besides beeping responses to every change, the touch controls are often super-sensitive, such that stray liquids from cooking can activate them, or make them difficult to touch properly.

There’s also a downside to induction’s efficiency. Induction cooktops directly activate heat in the pan above them, but the heat doesn’t spread like it would with a gas flame or resistance coil. That means that if you’re cooking something across a pot or pan that’s wider than the cooktop itself, food at the edges of the pan won’t get as much heat. One reader said this was a more noticeable problem on pancake Sundays.

Some stoves also have safeguards that prevent a pan from getting too hot—generally wise, but annoying if you’re trying to sear something.

Is there any reason to go with a gas stove?

If your gas stove has failed, or you’ve decided you’re done with it, now is the time to switch to induction. Buying another gas stove locks your house into gas supply for however long that appliance lasts (probably not as long as you’d hope, but still a matter of many years).

At a minimum, if the higher cost, electrical work, and/or new cookware costs seem too much, or if induction’s style doesn’t suit you, consider switching to a traditional electric oven. It’s the same kind of roasting oven you’d get with an induction stove, anyways, but a resistive coil range.

The only gas stove worth using is one that’s already installed and still functional. Use it until it stops working, then commit to capping that gas pipe with your next stove.

The post Induction vs. Gas Stoves appeared first on Carbon Switch.

If your electric stove needs replacing, or you’re buying a new model after a renovation, you might be comparing stoves. Electric and induction can seem very similar in appearance and operation, if not always in price. Which should you pick?

Induction stoves offer a tantalizing upgrade over electric: they’re faster, safer, and warm up your home less. They can change the way you cook, and how soon meals are done, for the better. And if you’ve already got the space and wiring for an electric stove, most induction stoves are a simple replacement.

In this article, we’ll explore the differences between state-of-the-art induction stoves and traditional electric cooktops. 

What is induction cooking? How is it different than electric?

Induction cooking does use electricity, but it’s not “electric,” the way most people describe a stove. Here’s how induction differs from traditional electric stoves and cooktops.

An electric stove sends electricity into a resistive coil. In some cases the coil is exposed; in other cases it sits underneath a glass ceramic surface. Resistance creates heat, which radiates out from the coil and into your pan or pot. It’s conduction because heat is conducted indirectly to the pan, and eventually the food inside.

An induction stove powers an electromagnet, creating an oscillating magnetic field that induces currents inside the metals in the pan. The metal heats up, and your food gets cooked. It’s more efficient—90% energy efficiency, versus 74% for electric and 40% for gas. That efficiency also means far less heat is radiated out from your stove and into your living space, which is nice if you’re cooking on a hot summer day.

Induction has a number of benefits over standard electric:

• Faster cooking, especially boiling liquids
• Faster response to temperature changes
• Less waste heat (cooler kitchen)
• Safer cooking, without coils that stay hot long after cooking
• Built-in timers and safety features against leaving a burner on
• Easier clean-up than with burners and grates

Costs

Upfront purchase

Induction stoves cost more upfront than similar electric stoves, at least for now. Full-size induction stoves are a newer product, and most have more advanced capabilities than their electric counterparts (though both can come with additional premium features).

Browsing major appliance vendors, electric stoves cost between $550-$2,000, from the most basic, exposed-coil, knob-operated model to flat-top, air-frying models that clean themselves with steam.

In the same stores, most induction stoves start at $1,200 and run up to $2,000, within mainstream brands and common sizes. Premium models with more features start at $3,000.

You’ll also likely have to have your induction stove delivered, because your nearby appliance store may not have a model you like in stock. Delivery and installation are usually free on such online purchases.

Installation

If you’re switching from electric to induction, you likely won’t need to do much. Induction stoves require a dedicated 220-volt outlet connected to a 40-50-amp breaker, but that’s also what electric stoves should have. Assuming you have the wiring, and ventilation, in place, you’ll be good to go.

If you’re switching from gas, it’s a different job. You’ll need a licensed electrician to install that outlet and run that high-capacity wire back to your outlet. And you’ll want a plumber to cap the gas line and shut off the line.

Cookware

Image via Marco Verch Professional/Flickr.

Induction cooking works through magnetism. If a magnet doesn’t stick to a pot or pan, it’s not likely to work with an induction cooktop. So you might need to invest in some new cookware for an induction stove—take this as a plus or minus, depending on how you feel about your pans.

Many pans these days are labeled as induction-ready. Others may not be, but inherently work well: cast iron, some kinds of steel, Dutch ovens (which are cast iron enameled with glass), and some higher-end non-stick pans. 

Having the wrong kind of pan won’t hurt anything; the induction cooktop will show an error code and simply not power up.

Cooking techniques

Induction cooking is a bit faster than electric cooking, and your cooktop will react faster when you adjust levels. That’s not a bad thing, in most cases. But if you’re used to a certain rhythm, an amount of delay, you’ll want to watch your food more closely when you first start out with induction.

Because induction requires direct contact with the pan, you’ll be better off stirring food in the pan rather than pulling it off the burner to toss food around. You can still flip if you want; your stove will just complain about a lack of contact, and you’ll have a minute or so to return the pan and keep cooking before it turns off. Most induction users get used to this quickly, but it’s certainly an adjustment.

Appearance

Induction stoves look almost exactly like a flat-top electric stove. Their elements (or “burners”) are hidden underneath a smooth, ceramic-glass top. And their ovens are typically the same kind of electric–powered space, whether they offer convection, air-frying, or other versions of it.

Unlike more affordable electric stoves, the relatively lower-cost induction stoves tend to feature buttons and screens rather than dials. It’s helpful when setting the more precise temperatures induction can achieve: 300 Fahrenheit instead of “medium.” But many appliance manufacturers make induction stoves with knobs if that’s your preference.

Maintenance, repair, and care

Caring for an induction stove is the same as caring for a flat-top electric stove, if maybe a bit easier. Because the heat comes from inside the cookware, rather than radiated from underneath, food that gets onto the cooktop is less burned into it, making it somewhat easier to wipe away after cooking. And, because the cooktop doesn’t stay hot as long after cooking, you can get to that gunk faster. For the toughest stains, however, you’ll want a glass scraper.

As with electric flat-top stoves, you want to avoid moving heavy pots and pans around on the surface of your induction stove, so you don’t scratch the surface. This will be reinforced by the stove, somewhat, because lifting a pan off the cooktop will cause an error code and cut off that section’s power. It’s especially important with cast iron, which works well with induction, but has a rougher surface.

Most importantly, don’t drop heavy pots or pans directly onto the cooktop, or else you could chip or even shatter the cooktop.

Beyond that, you should follow the stove’s maintenance and cleaning procedures.

Environmental benefits

Both induction and electric stoves rely on electricity, so they’re inherently better than a gas stove. By going (or staying) electric, you’re reducing the demand for “natural gas,” which is mostly methane, a greenhouse gas that warms the earth at 80 times the rate of carbon dioxide.

As noted earlier, induction is more energy efficient than electric (and they’re both far more efficient than gas), but you’re not likely to see a big swing in your electric bill. What you are seeing is a home that’s ready for a future with far less carbon. Electrifying your home, with as many efficient devices as possible, helps move us all closer to a world without fossil fuels.

Is there any reason to go with an electric stove?

The main drawback of induction is the higher upfront cost. For most homeowners deciding between an induction versus electric stove, it’s really a question of how much you’re willing to pay for a better cooking experience. 

Many professional chef’s love induction stoves. But the reality is that many people either don’t cook that much, or don’t really care about the performance of their stove. 

So if money’s tight, and the idea of a more responsive cooktop doesn’t speak to you, we recommend going with a traditional electric stove.

The post Induction vs. Electric Stoves appeared first on Carbon Switch.

As the latest heat wave smashes temperature records across the country, people will seek refuge in air-conditioned spaces, whether homes, offices, vehicles, or public cooling shelters. But unless we fix up our A/C systems, that refuge comes with a cost.

Energy use for cooling around the world more than tripled between 1990 and 2020, and has only risen as more people work from home. Air conditioning is now 13% of the world’s total electricity demand, according to the United Nations and International Energy Agency (IEA). Most of that electricity is produced using fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. 

But that’s just the energy cost of today’s air conditioning. If air conditioning adoption continues at projected rates, there could be more than 9.5 billion units by 2050, compared to the current 3.6 billion today, according to the Green Cooling Initiative. If we somehow gave air conditioning to everybody who needs it, not just those who can afford it, that number would be more like 14 billion units.

Source: University of Birmingham, “A Cool World: Defining the Energy Conundrum of Cooling for All,” 2018.

But cooling things down like this makes the whole planet hotter. Air conditioning accounts for 11.8% of the world’s direct carbon emissions. By 2050, cooling (including refrigerators) could cause 18 billion tons of emissions, about half the total global CO2 emitted today, according to the IEA. That’s not even factoring in the warming effects of the hydrofluorocarbons in refrigerants (we’ll tackle those in a bit).

The more emissions, the hotter the planet. The hotter the planet, the more people buy air conditioners. The more those units run, the more emissions we produce. 

It’s a vicious cycle. So how do we stop it?

The world needs better air conditioners and refrigerants, yesterday

Like many climate change problems, the solutions to our vicious A/C cycle involve many technologies and tools we already have. Nothing fantastical needs inventing, but major action needs to happen.

The average efficiency rating of air conditioners increased only 10% since 2010, and most of the A/C units sold are only 10-30% better than the worst-performing products, according to IEA. There are many models available that are 30-70% more efficient, and some higher-end units are 2-3 times as efficient as the average. We could buy better–and we’d do it much faster if there was help and incentives. 

Our air conditioners and refrigerators, efficient or otherwise, are powered by some very damaging refrigerants (or hydrofluorocarbons). Climate scientists measure the damage of such materials in GWP, global warming potential, which is a measure of how much more quickly they warm our planet than carbon dioxide. The average GWP found in most air conditioners today is 1,360.

Source: Cooling Emissions and Policy Synthesis Report, UN/IEA

According to a recent report by leading climate scientists, if we replaced every air conditioner and refrigerator with the highest-efficiency, best-refrigerant models by 2030, we could save 460 billion tons of greenhouse gasses over the next 40 years. To put that in perspective, the entire world emits about 50 billion tons of greenhouse gasses every year. 

In addition to the emissions reductions, this efficiency campaign would save an equivalent amount of electricity produced by all the coal-fired power produced by China and India in 2018, roughly $2.9 trillion worth.

What if we just powered all the A/C with renewable energy?

You might be tempted to think the solution is to just build more renewable energy. But when it comes to climate action, there are no silver bullets. 

Simply put, there are too many air conditioners now, and in the future, to sit back and assume the grid will save us. A University of Birmingham study suggests that, even with good efficiency improvements, cooling will consume nearly 2.5 times as much energy as climate scientists have budgeted for cooling in a renewable-grid future.

So even if we did magnificent work at switching to green power—the kind that would keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius—cooling will eat up between 50-80% of the projected renewable energy we’d have by 2050. If we didn’t improve cooling efficiency much, it could easily consume all the power we have.

Without a worldwide push for efficiency, better refrigerants, and a much greener grid, we’re stuck in the emissions/temperature/cooling loop.

So what can I do?

Even though you’re just one person on this planet, you likely have access to everything you need to do the most good.

When it comes time to replace your air conditioner, consider buying a heat pump. Heat pumps, despite their bad name, are very efficient air conditioners that can also heat your home — and they can do it 3-4x more efficiently than furnaces, baseboards and boilers.. After all, it’s not just summer emissions heating the world up, it’s all of them, all year round.

Most people in the U.S. today can’t buy a refrigerator, air conditioner, or car that utilizes lower-emission refrigeration. But if the Kigali Amendment, an update to the 1987 Montreal Protocol that successfully reduced ozone depletion, passes the U.S. Senate, you could have more options in coming years. If you live in a state with a Republican Senator, ask them to vote to amend the Kigali Amendment. This is a rare climate bill that some Republicans may actually vote for.

Similarly, you can support Rewiring America, an organization that, among many other things, advocates for rebates on efficient, electric home appliances, like heat pumps. We’re past the point where we can wait to see if The Market solves our efficiency gap—we need smart government policy.

On a very local level—local as in your living room—install a smart thermostat, or ask your landlord for one. Perhaps the easiest efficiency fix for air conditioning is to not have it run so hard when nobody’s around to enjoy it.

Finally, you can do your part to foster a greener grid. You can sign up for community solar, install panels on your roof, or simply let your local representatives and public utility commission know you want more renewables on the grid.

If we get too comfortable and complacent with our middling A/C now, we’ll struggle to keep them running when every summer after this breaks another record.

The post To Stop Record Heat Waves, We Have to Fix Air Conditioning appeared first on Carbon Switch.

As some of you know, we’ve already written a bit about induction in our Induction Cooktop and Stove Buyer’s Guide. We’ve also written about why cooking on gas is terrible for both the planet and our health (Part One and Part Two).

But after publishing those articles, we received hundreds of questions via email and Twitter. Over the next month our goal is to answer as many of those questions as possible. 

We’ve already got the first induction article for you—but first, I’d like to ask a quick favor:

Induction stove survey

If you recently purchased an induction stove or range, can you help us and fill out this two minute survey?

Last time we asked our readers to weigh in like this, we ended up with a unique resource on the cost of heat pumps. This kind of data isn’t easy to come by. And it’s helpful for researchers, journalists, and other people working to help people understand why we need to electrify homes and reduce emissions.

Ok, now on to the first story in our series.

Our first story of induction month

One of the best ways to try cooking with magnets instead of fossil fuels is to buy a portable induction cooktop. Most models on the market cost less than $200 and can be on your doorstep in less than 48 hours. But there are a dizzying number of options out there. 

Kevin Purdy, our Senior Staff Writer, went deep down the rabbit hole to find the best portable induction cooktop. If you’re wondering what induction cooking is like, he’s found a good device for you.

To read more about the best portable induction cooktops, check out his guide here.

What’s coming next

Here’s what you can expect in the rest of the induction series:

• How much does an induction stove cost?
• The best induction stove
• Induction vs. gas cooking
• Induction vs. traditional electric cooking

As always, if you have any other suggestions on what we should cover, we’d love to hear from you.

Until then, internet strangers!

The post It’s Induction Month at Carbon Switch appeared first on Carbon Switch.

Induction is the most efficient cooking method, both for a speedy dinner and a carbon-free future. A portable induction cooktop can add cooking space to a small kitchen, let you try out induction on a small scale, and cook anywhere there’s a standard outlet. 

If you want fast, precise, and safe heat on any surface, the Duxtop 9600LS is the best portable cooktop for induction cooking. After using it for as much cooking as possible for two weeks, reading through hundreds of reviews, and considering ratings by esteemed publications, it’s our pick for the best portable induction solution, whatever your current setup is.

Why we like the Duxtop 9600LS

The Duxtop 9600LS is a powerful, versatile cooktop that hits the right price point for anyone just trying out induction, avoiding a bad stovetop, or taking their cooking on the go.

Duxtop has been making portable induction cooktops for some time. I purchased a Duxtop portable induction cooktop seven years ago, with fewer features and a slightly larger body size, but the same wattage and 8-inch induction surface. It’s been my go-to for faster pasta water, when the stove is too crowded, or if I want to cook something low and slow for hours, like stock or pasta sauce, without quite so many safety concerns.

The 9600LS wraps all the benefits of induction cooking up into a relatively nice-looking slab, with 20 different heat settings, an easy-to-read screen, and a shape and weight that’s easier to tuck into storage than you might expect. It warns you when its surface is hot, and it has both automatic and manual timers to ensure both safety and proper cooking. It reminds me of a little classic iPod-—one that could cook a whole chicken, if left long enough.

There are other induction cooktops that are cheaper, larger, smaller, or offer complicated timing and heating features. But the 9600LS adjusts rapidly, offers a wide range of temperatures, comes from a known brand, and looks as nice as an 8-inch electromagnet with a flat top can look. 

What it’s like cooking with the Duxtop 9600LS

How the Duxtop 9600LS will work for you depends on what you want from it. If you just want to boil water as fast as possible, it’s great at that job—there’s even a dedicated 10-minute button for it.

I timed how long it took for 3 quarts of unsalted water to reach a steady, pasta-friendly boil in a large, induction-friendly pot on both the 8-inch 9600LS induction top and the 8-inch burner on my electric stove. It took 15 minutes and 18 seconds on the 9600LS, and 18 minutes 39 seconds on electric. That’s longer than the 10-minute timer, but your timing will vary with different pots and water amounts.

The time savings over gas are greater. I don’t have a gas stove to test on now, but in my former home, my induction cooktop was always preferred over the stove. With induction, too, it’s far safer to walk away from boiling water, especially if you set a timer, versus gas or even flat-top electric. And, not for nothing, you’re not polluting your home’s air with harmful agents.

Frigidaire and other induction stove makers cite more drastic sped-ups, like 1 minute 30 seconds to boil in a small pan versus 5-7 minutes on gas or electric. Induction stove makers want induction to seem fast, but it’s true that cookware can make a big difference.

It’s not all about fast cooking with induction. You can set a specific temperature, from 100-460 Fahrenheit (38-238 Celsius), for slow simmers, for frying oil consistency, or to adjust from the last time you cooked this recipe. There are 20 heat settings; that’s quite a lot, compared to the five typical settings most people use on their stove knobs: low, medium-low, medium, medium-high, high.

The cooktop’s manual notes that the temperature sensor is underneath the glass, and that different cookware, with different thicknesses and metal mixes, will yield different temperatures. So the temperatures are “estimates,” but “accurate enough for daily cooking requirements.”

Fast boiling is mostly what I used my older Duxtop model for, but I wanted to try and cook everything on the 9600LS for two weeks. I already had a 12-inch non-stick pan, a 12-inch cast iron skillet, an enameled ceramic/iron Dutch oven, a large stock pot, and an 8-inch steel pan, all of which worked with induction. I planned for as many one-pan meals as possible, or switched out pans if I cooked in stages.

One thing I learned quickly is that, while a portable cooktop can be used almost anywhere, you should mostly use it near proper ventilation. While it sizzled and browned onions and peppers in a cast iron pan much faster than my electric stove, the stove has the advantage of a vent fan above it. If you can easily fit your induction pan on top of your stove’s cooktop, this is less of an issue, but at that point you should be considering a full induction stove.

If you lift a pan from the surface of the 9600LS, it will warn you that it’s lost its magnetic connection with an “E0” error (the same as if you put a non-induction-ready pan on it). But you’ve got a whole minute to put the pan back on. So while induction cooking encourages you to stir inside the pan rather than lift and toss, both are possible.

I learned that, as an actual stove replacement, a portable cooktop is less than ideal. But as validation for induction cooking, and a sidekick eager to simmer, boil, or occasionally fry, the 9600LS is more than worth the storage space.

What is a portable induction cooktop, exactly?

A portable induction cooktop takes the benefits of an induction stove or cooktop and reduces it to one or two cooking surfaces (or “burners,” despite their non-flammable nature) that you can pick up, move around, and plug in.

Shopping for a portable induction cooktop can be tricky, because the word “cooktop” more typically means a full set of multiple burners, the kind you would permanently mount on a kitchen counter, with or without a stove underneath. Cooktop is just a slightly more logical word for this kind of device than “burner,” since induction doesn’t burn anything.

How does an induction cooktop work?

A portable induction cooktop works the same as a full induction stove or cooktop. A powered electromagnetic creates an electromagnetic field inside the induction cooktop. The field passes through the ceramic top, but when it hits your metal pans, it creates swirling electrical currents that, in turn, heat up resistive metal when it tries to pass through.

Image credit: Nicole Kelner

Modern induction cooktops can monitor the temperature of the metal pan sitting on top of it, then adjust their current draw to heat, cool, or steady the pan’s temperature. You control most induction cooktops with buttons and small screens, rather than dials or knobs.

If you’re wondering what it looks like inside a device that electro-magnetically heats up pans, Mark Furneaux took apart an older Duxtop model and explored its innards.

Why is induction better than gas or electric cooking?

The most basic way that induction beats gas or electric cooking is that there’s one less element of heat transfer.

Gas and electric stoves—which are conductive—heat up your cookware by setting gas on fire, or heating up a resistive coil with electricity, which conducts energy into your pan. Whenever energy changes form, some of it is lost, and heat energy is especially prone to inefficient waste. Induction, well, induces your pan to heat up, creating a more direct interaction between the heat you want and the food you’re cooking.

There are lots of benefits to this direct, electronic cooking, including:

• Faster boiling liquids, oil heating, and other hot jobs
• Quicker response to temperature changes
• Cooler kitchens due to far less waste heat
• Portability
• Safer cooking, without exposed flames or red-hot coils
• Timers and safety controls alleviate “Did I leave the burner on?” anxiety
• Less indoor air pollution in your home
• Easier to clean than flat-top electric cooktops

Perhaps most beneficial for everybody is that induction cooking doesn’t require fossil fuels to run, like gas, and is far more energy efficient than a traditional electric cooktop. Induction cooking is one piece of the puzzle we need to solve in order to create electric, efficient, carbon-free homes.

What are the drawbacks of induction cooking?

One of the main drawbacks of induction cooking is the flip side to its major benefit. If your foods, liquids, and oils heat a lot faster than they used to, you have to learn new mental timings for your recipes, and, at least at first, watch them and react more quickly.

A drawback beyond the cooking realm is that people with pacemakers need to read up on some rare but present risks. A 2006 study found that a unipolar, left-side pacemaker, kept within 35 cm of a cooktop that had a pan far off-center, could receive interference. Most people don’t cook with their chests hovering less than a foot from a misaligned cooktop, but caution for pacemaker implants is still advisable.

Induction cooktops are generally more expensive than their comparable gas or traditional electric counterparts. Scanning a few larger appliance stores, induction stoves were typically $400-$800 more than similar gas stoves with like features.

Finally, the most significant short-term challenge to induction cooking, portable or otherwise, is having the right kind of pans. In order to cook on induction cooktops and stoves, you’ll need ferro-magnetic pans. 

What kind of pans do I need for induction cooking?

Induction cooking only works with pans that have ferrous metal inside. If a magnet sticks to it, induction will work with it. Some or even most of your pans may already be ready for the switch to induction: cast iron, Dutch ovens (Lodge and Le Creuset), and stainless steel (i.e. All-Clad)

If you’re just trying out induction with a single portable cooktop, you can start small. Look for an induction-ready pan, maybe a non-stick to keep it simple and affordable. Grab a pasta-sized pot, too, so you can experience the joy of 10-minute boiling water.
If your portable cooktop has converted you to the joy of induced heat, Serious Eats recommends good induction-ready cookware (that still work with your now antiquated-seeming gas or electric stove).

The post The Best Portable Induction Cooktop appeared first on Carbon Switch.

The big story here is that the Biden administration will give the solar industry a two-year break from tariffs that were threatening to grind the entire industry to a halt. According to Rystad Energy, 64% of new solar projects were in jeopardy due to the Commerce Department’s investigation and threat of tariffs. 

For the foreseeable future, that will no longer be the case. The executive order frees up the solar industry to move ahead with its projects, and it’s a highly visible sign of Biden’s commitment to clean energy (they are, after all, very shiny).

But solar tariffs are just one part of humanity’s climate challenge—and only one of five memos issued by the White House Monday. Biden also invoked Cold-War-era production powers to move forward the markets for insulation, heat pumps, fuel cell equipment, and transformers and other grid-boosting gear.

In doing so, the president made this remarkable statement: “Electric heat pumps are industrial resources, materials, or critical technology items essential to the national defense.”

Remove the legal and lawmaking bits, and the president is saying it: heat pumps are national defense. And they are, in a few different fields of battle.

Heat pumps for peace

Environmentalist and author Bill McKibben has been saying this for a while now: install heat pumps, defeat Russia. “If you want to stand with the brave people of Ukraine, you need to find a way to stand against oil and gas,” McKibben wrote in the Guardian back in February. 

In Heat Pumps for Peace and Freedom, McKibben called for shipping U.S.-made heat pumps to Europe, where homes running on heating oil and natural gas could swap them in and shut off the gas pipe. Whether or not that happens, the U.S. building out its capacity for producing heat pumps—and the related building insulation and electrical gear that improve them—could stave off future petro-state aggression.

In his article, McKibben argued that the Biden administration should invoke the Defense Production Act to achieve this goal. On Monday, Biden announced that he would do just that.

What is the Defense Production Act?

According to legal expert Shayan Karbassi, the modern Defense Production Act has three main sections, allowing the president and his departments to:

• Require businesses to accept and prioritize government contracts for materials that are “scarce” and “essential” to national defense
• Use government funds to entice production, and even install manufacturing equipment if needed
• Allow temporary agreements with producers that could otherwise spell trouble under antitrust or contract law

The Defense Production Act (DPA) has a name that evokes factories full of patriots turning out weapons, but it’s used routinely for non-conflict purposes. The Department of Energy invoked it to send natural gas to California to avoid blackouts in early 2001. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers utilized it to prioritize contracts related to Hurricane Katrina damage in 2005. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) used it to send housing, food, water, and electrical supplies to Puerto Rico in 2017.

The most commonly used aspect of the DPA demands that companies produce items required by the government ahead of any other client. That’s why the Defense Department leans on the DPA roughly 300,000 times per year (though we can’t really find out how it gets used for military orders). An agency can also issue loans to buy equipment, and closely manage the distribution of any goods produced. Mostly, the DPA allows the government to skip its typically glacial bidding and contracting systems.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump, despite making statements against “nationalizing,” used the DPA to compel auto makers to produce a theoretically unlimited number of ventilators. Ford, GM, and other manufacturers were later contracted for 187,000 ventilators, and eventually delivered 80,000. 

Similarly, the Trump administration started off on a strict DPA footing with the 3M company, demanding it ramp up production of medical-grade N95 masks and stop exporting outside the U.S. 3M balked, saying a U.S-only focus would cause deaths and backlash. A deal was eventually reached, with exports restored, but millions of U.S. masks produced as a top priority.

Biden used the DPA almost immediately after he became president, placing priority orders for masks, testing kits, and vaccine-related materials, such as dry ice. He later invoked it to compel more vaccines, fire hose materials for California, and, just weeks ago, import baby formula.

Why clean energy is a real defense need

It’s unclear exactly what scale of production Biden’s clean energy DPA demands might create, or how the products will be deployed. But every step up in solar and clean comfort tech has a huge impact. 

Home heating and cooling causes about 12% of the country’s emissions. If a heat pump was installed in every home, and the country could run those more energy-efficient homes on a renewable grid, emissions would be cut by 600 million tons per year. Given that the U.S. Department of Defense has declared climate change a national security threat, accelerating heat pump adoption is already a matter of national defense.

Domestic technology production—whether heat pumps, batteries, or transformers—also has real defense implications. In May 2020, President Trump signed an executive order that called for “Securing the U.S. Bulk-Power System.” Around that time, the government seized a 250-ton Chinese-made transformer bound for Colorado, citing concerns about foreign access. Months later, a Commerce Department report stated the U.S. was nearly completely dependent on “foreign sources for material critical to the manufacture of transformers.”

But nobody thinks the U.S. can truly go it alone when it comes to clean energy tech, and the case for intervention has been building for a while now. In February, the Department of Energy (DOE) launched a new Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, and issued reports on the need for a comprehensive strategy for a clean energy transition, including a revamped industrial base. 

So while it might seem odd to see a president citing national defense to boost solar panels, heat pumps, insulation, and transformers, it makes more sense than ever. We need a secure, robust electric grid sending clean power to everybody, and it was taking too long for the market and bureaucrats to figure out how. Clean power is security, and we should prioritize it.

The post Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to boost clean energy. Here’s why. appeared first on Carbon Switch.

There’s just one kinda big problem: most people can’t get their own panels. That’s one of the surprising things I learned in doing research for our latest guide to community solar.

According to recent research experts, the most optimistic view is that 66 percent of U.S. homes can’t install solar panels right now, whether because they’re rented or multi-family buildings, have tricky roofs or sun angles, or simply can’t finance them. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory puts the number closer to 85 percent.

I was shocked, but slightly comforted. As Carbon Switch’s senior staff writer, I help people find ways to cut fossil fuels out of their homes. As an apartment dweller in Washington, D.C., my options are far more limited. I can’t change out my A/C for a heat pump, insist on a hybrid water heater, or ask my building to mark one of its solar panels for my own use. More concerning is that, living relatively close to coal country, 58% of my electrical power is generated with fossil fuels.

That’s why over the last month I’ve been researching the community solar market and searching for the best options.

Based on my research, I think Arcadia is the best community solar provider.  There are no upfront costs or commitments, and most customers get a 10% discount on their electric bill immediately. They’re not active in every state, but you can sign up for a waitlist that will keep your place when a farm is ready. You can search out other options, but be sure to closely read your costs and terms. 

Not all switch-your-electricity sign-ups are the same, or have the same outcomes. Before I learned about community solar, I’d received a pile of letter mail offers to “get 100% clean, pollution-free energy.” After double-checking that these “Important Update” and “Second Attempt” letters weren’t from my actual utility, it seemed I could authorize a switch, route myself cleaner power, and, sure, I’d pay a bit more.

But that’s not how it works. Those letters, from CleanChoice Energy, were (aggressively) offering to offset my electric usage against renewable energy certificates (RECs). In some ideal rational-market world, buying up RECs would encourage more renewable power projects. Whether this really happens is disputed, and that’s before you dig into the transparency of your own mix of RECs.

According to the Daily Beast, CleanChoice has been involved in multiple lawsuits and has received hundreds of bad reviews from customers that accuse the company of misleading them. 

So community solar looks like a much better way forward for those without their own panels. But there’s still a long way to go. Another discovery from this guide was the way that utility companies actively block projects like community solar farms–and that some of the best ways to understand this come from John Oliver and one of the Property Brothers.

By signing up for community solar, I’m supporting a nearby farm, feeling slightly better about my power mix, and hopefully spurring more solar development here. It’s not a heat pump, but it’s something.

The post The Problem Community Solar Solves appeared first on Carbon Switch.