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Jan 10, 2023Liked by Addison Del Mastro

When I was teen I stayed at my grandmother's apt. For some reason one the burners was not turned off and the flame went out. Gas was poring out of the stove. We fell asllep not noticing. Long story short I woke to my friend banging on the door yelling that there was gas all the way down stairs. If he had not intervened either the building would have blown up or we would have been aphixiated.

I never had a gas stove again. I now have one of those smooth flat electric stoves that are really pretty and clean.

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founding
Jan 10, 2023Liked by Addison Del Mastro

I obviously can't run a controlled experiment, but I've personally found my respiratory health to be much worse since I bought a house with gas cooking, and that's as someone who makes sure I run my externally vented hood fan every time I cook (and often crack the window nearby, to be extra careful). Obligatory *gestures at ubiquitous respiratory disease* of course, but when I realized just how much junk the stove is pumping out (and that it's always doing some of it, even when off!) and I can't wait to get rid of it.

There are several startups specifically looking to get into the gas->induction conversion business, so I'm hopeful that within the next few years it'll be much easier to make that upgrade. I'm following one that uses an onboard battery to avoid needing to upgrade the outlet to 220 volts, which is good because I'm not honestly sure my old New England wiring can make that jump. By charging throughout the day, it can deliver more heat in the moment than a 220v induction cooktop (and a heck of a lot more than gas) and it will works when the power's off!

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Yeah - the issue with upgrading the outlet is huge, because it can often cascade into needing to replace the whole electric panel, if I understand correctly. Being able to run an induction stove via battery in a power outage sounds awesome. I do like gas stoves, and I also like my conventional electric, but I'm pretty sure the future of cooking is going to be induction.

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founding

Heh, Josh Barro has weighed in with a generally reasonable piece on the kerfuffle. Unfortunately it's paywalled for his subscribers, but the title is "Gas Stoves Should Be a Matter of Individual Choice" though the text is a bit more nuanced than the title suggests.

I probably come down a bit further "left" of that position, I think there's a real and compelling case for a heavier hand to mitigate some of the known costs of opting for that (much like driving, gas cooking by design seeks to internalize benefits and externalize costs, so warrants a thumb on the scales to correct that imbalance. Also probably a pretty easy case that building codes should be stricter on proper ventilation for gas ranges, as the number of "vent back into kitchen after going through a wire filter" setups I saw when house shopping is maddening).

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Jan 10, 2023Liked by Addison Del Mastro

Get ready, looks like the CFPB is aiming at gas stoves.

“This is a hidden hazard,” Richard Trumka Jr., an agency commissioner, said in an interview. “Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.” (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban-on-gas-stoves-amid-health-fears)

While I can understand the alternative, the irony for me is that I've always felt that the counterposition, (that Gas Stoves were for True Cooks), was the arrogant and condescending one. Perhaps the one truth in American discussions is we're all arguing from a point of self-described superiority.

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