ASHRAE Journal - July 2023 - 8

LETTERS
Still Cooking With Gas?
We appreciate Dr. Sherman's thoughtful column on
gas cooking in the May 2023 issue of ASHRAE Journal.
While the column does cover all of the categories of
impact of gas cooking, we feel he overlooks several of
the negative aspects of gas cooking.
On safety, the opportunity with all-electric cooking
is to make cooking even safer for not only the average
user, but in professional restaurant settings where
cooking burns are still common. Restaurant workers
are especially vulnerable to burns from gas cooking.
Induction cook stoves in particular provide added
safety because they transfer heat directly to the cooking
equipment instead of heating the stove surface.
Standards are intended to continuously improve and
drive us toward safer and more efficient technology, in
the case of electric cooking.
On the decarbonization front, we feel Dr. Sherman is
missing the fact that electric cooking is inherently more
efficient than gas. Gas cooking is in the 30% efficient
range while electric resistance cooking is 60% efficient
and induction can be as high as 80% efficient. A doubling
of efficiency makes all the sense in the world from
both an engineering and decarbonization standpoint.
He also brings up the costs of induction cooking. In a
recent survey of Walmart cookware, a full set of pots that
are induction ready costs in the $50 to $75 range. Cast
iron, another great and affordable choice for cooking,
is one of the best options for induction cooking. Ikea is
now selling electric resistance and induction stoves that
all rival the cost of similar quality gas stoves.
On ambient air quality from gas cooking, in isolation,
we agree that the impacts to outdoor air pollutants of
gas cooking is smaller than those from gas heating and
gas water heating. However, continuing to support the
natural gas supply network just for gas cooking is going
to be a barrier to the abandonment of the gas infrastructure
in neighborhoods and communities. This is one of
the major financial benefits of the elimination of gas in
homes. The gas distribution infrastructure in America
is aging and will cost billions of dollars to maintain over
the coming decades. If gas cooking is kept as the only
gas used in a home, gas utilities will be forced to raise
the cost of natural gas to stratospheric levels to cover
the costs of maintaining a large gas network for small
amounts of usage.
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ASHRAE JOURNAL ashrae.o rg
J U LY 2023
On indoor air quality (IAQ), Dr. Sherman has several
good points. We agree that better hoods for capture
of fumes and automatic controls of the hoods would
be a great solution to the indoor air pollutants from
cooking and burning methane in the kitchen. We also
agree that cooks should learn to manually turn on the
hood. However, we disagree that these changes would
be easier and as effective as a simple change out of the
stove itself. Additionally, the more widespread use of
hoods will drive up space conditioning costs-heating
or cooling-further driving up the cost of staying with
gas. In addition, newer homes with tighter construction
often do not have good airflow at the hood. While
some volatile organic compounds can be generated
even with electric cooking, the elimination of all harmful
gases from burning gas will surely be more effective
at improving IAQ and the safety of building occupants,
especially more vulnerable children.
In the end, we feel electric cooking-especially
induction cooking-is safer, affordable and more climate
friendly than gas cooking. Chefs that have started to
become familiar with induction report that it is a more
precise, faster and more enjoyable cooking experience.
There is a growing list of Michelin starred restaurants
that use all electric cooking. We look forward to meeting
Dr. Sherman at one of these restaurants for an enjoyable,
decarbonized and delicious meal in the near future.
Peter Rumsey, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, Oakland, Calif.
and Jorlyn Le Garrec, P.E., Associate Member ASHRAE,
San Francisco
SHERMAN RESPONDS
In their letter, Peter and Jorlyn raise useful points for
individual consideration. To be clear, though, I was not
making the point that everyone should choose gas cooking
but rather that there was insufficient rationale for
public policy to ban gas cooking.
The letter writers contend that gas cooking is substantially
less safe for workers in commercial kitchens. Gas
cooking appliances have been getting safer and safer
over the last century, but if their contention is true, it is
not a rationale to ban all gas cooking. The Occupational
Health and Safety Administration is the place to raise
worker safety issues.
The numbers Peter and Jorlyn cite for cooking efficiency
may be correct, but only when considering site
energy use; the more relevant number is source energy
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