Battery-Powered Induction Stove Gains More U.S. Users

For years, Ed Yaker, treasurer of a New York City co-op with nearly 1,500 units, and fellow board members have dealt with gas leaks.

Startup Copper manufactures an electric stove and oven that can simply be plugged into a regular outlet. I Photo:Copper

A leak can mean the gas for an entire building is shut off, leaving residents unable to use a stove for months until expensive repairs are made to the gas lines, Isabella O’Malley reported for the Associated Press (AP).

So, Yaker was all in when he learned about a California startup called Copper that was manufacturing an electric stove and oven that could simply be plugged into a regular outlet.

The sleek, standard four-burner electric induction stove runs on 120 volts, meaning there is no need to pay a licensed electrician thousands of dollars to rewire to 240 volts, which many electric stoves require.

“In terms of, ‘Is this the way to go?’ it’s a no-brainer,” Yaker said, demonstrating how a quart of water boiled in about two minutes.

His apartment is full of books, many on energy and climate change, and the energy efficiency was a motivation as well. Then, there are the health benefits of cooking with electricity.

Gas stoves, which 47 million Americans use, release pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, which has been linked to asthma, and benzene, a known carcinogen. “You wouldn’t stand over the tailpipe of a car breathing in the exhaust.

And yet, nearly 50 million households stand over a gas stove, breathing the same pollutants in their homes,” said Rob Jackson, an environmental scientist at Stanford University and lead author of a study on pollution from gas cooking.

“I had a gas stove until I started this line of research. Watching pollutant levels rise almost immediately every time I turned a burner or my oven on was enough to get me to switch to an electric stove,” he said.