The Stove

The purpose of the kitchen stove is to cook food. Unfortunately a large part of the energy used to heat food, heats the whole room wasting energy. To air a kitchen because of the  heat is just a symptom of this kind of waste. Therefore the following should be kept in mind when cooking:

• It is advisable to put a lid on the pots so that heat will not dissipate. This decreases energy loss by 1/3.
• Use the smallest pot and the most suitable size of stove-plate.
• Choose flat pans that touch the stove all around.
• It is not wise to overcook food and the heat should be turned off a few minutes before cooking stops.
• The fan should be turned off when it’s not needed.

When investing in a kitchen stove, it is advisable to buy one that uses energy on the scale of A, A+ or A ++ according to European standards or which has the label Energy Star or GEEA. Those stoves are better insulated and use 20% less energy than other types. Only around 6% of the energy in the stove oven actually heats  the food. The rest is used to heat many kg. of steel and air inside the oven. The best option is to buy a self-cleaning oven. Air flow ovens are also better than usual ovens when the air flow is turned on.

Unfortunately kitchen appliances change according to fashion and many people change kitchen appliances only after a short period. This is a very negative process from an environmental point of view.

The following should be kept in mind:

• It is best to use the air flow in the air flow oven.
• It may be  feasible to bake more than one item in the oven at the same time.
• A meat thermometer can be useful for assessing when the meat is fully cooked, and can thus save energy.
• It is best to use a self cleaning mechanism at the end of each baking process.
• Also  it is best to turn off the oven a little before the baking time has been reached and let the residual heat do the job.