Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: common house kitchen stove

[Mike Mariano (mike]

Regarding type of fuel/stove for a Common House (or any home for that matter), 
I would highly recommend the community very thoughtfully consider the impact of 
gas fuel on indoor air quality. Burning natural gas produces a mixture of 
chemicals, including nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and 
others. There is a fair amount of credible research that can be found on the 
internet that addresses the risks, but this data is in competition with the 
natural gas industry that has been very successful about promoting the use of 
natural gas for cooking.

Induction stoves are used extensively in developed countries around the world 
because they are a very efficient method of cooking. Obviously, going with 
induction should take into consideration your source of electricity (if you're 
downwind from a coal-fired plant, then maybe gas is an acceptable trade-off).

Most of our local electricity is hydro-generated (which has its issues), but we 
have a restaurant next door to our studio that uses induction for all of their 
cooking, with much success I should add. For our upcoming cohousing community 
construction, we are not bringing gas into the building at all, even though it 
is the affordable fossil fuel of choice today. We are carrying the higher cost 
for induction ranges in our budget (GE has a modestly-priced one). All electric 
in the building will make it easier to transition to a local, 
neighborhood-based photovoltaic supply in the future.

Mike
Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing
www.capitolhillurbancohousing.org<http://www.capitolhillurbancohousing.org>
Seattle

michael mariano aia  |  schemata workshop inc.
architect & principal

office 206.285.1589<tel:206.285.1589>    mobile 206.419.9122<tel:206.419.9122>
www.schemataworkshop.com<http://www.schemataworkshop.com/>


On Friday, March 15, 2013, wrote:

> We are trying to decide what stove/oven to put in our comon house at
> Belfast Area Cohousing. We have decided not to use gas in our
> community, so does anybody have comments or advice, either positive or
> negative, about electric models? Thanks for taking the time to let
> usknow your experience.
> Don Pan
> Belfast Area Cohousing