The Cult of Climastrology is always looking for new ways to control your choices
California’s next frontier in fighting climate change: your kitchen stove
Curtis Stone has been using induction cooktops for years. The Australian celebrity chef — who operates acclaimed restaurants in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills and is planning a pop-up eatery at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this month — said the electric cooking technology is faster, cleaner and more efficient than a traditional gas stove.
“And they’re more accurate,†Stone said. “I know I’ll get a rolling simmer on a 6, and I know I’ll get a rapid simmer on a 7, and I know I’ll get a rapid boil on an 8.â€
Induction cooktops have another advantage: They don’t burn natural gas, a fossil fuel that contributes to climate change. California is looking for ways to phase out fossil gas, not just from power plants but also from stoves, water heaters and furnaces.
That could involve a long-term transition to all-electric homes and other buildings for tens of millions of Californians, a plan supported by clean energy advocates and some state officials.
Not everyone is on board.
The electrification plan could prompt a confrontation between the country’s biggest gas distribution utility, Southern California Gas Co., and its second-biggest electric utility, Southern California Edison. The monopoly powerhouses are already promoting competing visions for the Golden State, with Edison pushing a future powered by electricity and SoCalGas touting the climate benefits of so-called renewable gas.
What’s going to power all those stoves, water heaters, and furnaces?
Among the sources of climate change pollution, cars and power plants get the most attention. But buildings are responsible for a quarter of California’s planet-warming emissions when gas and electricity use are taken into account, state data show.
In residential buildings, two-thirds of gas consumption is for space and water heating, and an additional 18 percent is for washing clothes and dishes. Just 7 percent of residential gas use is for cooking, with the rest going toward clothes drying, pool heating and hot tub warming.
For many clean energy advocates, the solution is obvious: Replace gas with electricity. They point out that the electricity supply is getting cleaner — California got more than half its power from climate-friendly sources such as solar and wind in 2017, and is aiming for 100 percent by 2045 — while gas continues to emit carbon dioxide when burned.
Wind and solar provide 9.4% and 10.2%, respectively. Hydro is up to 14.7% (but the extreme enviros are not happy and want the dams torn down). And the cost of electricity has skyrocketed in California. Regardless, you cannot power everything with solar and wind. There’s nothing wrong with induction, if I ever need to replace my stove (which is electric, only heating and water heater are natural gas) that’s what I’ll get. But, I do not want Government forcing my choice. This is not what government is for.
