The gas flame that will cook our world

Tim Maguire writes: I got rid of all my gas appliances and am now fully electric, with appliances that are far superior, safer and almost free to run courtesy of my rooftop solar array and batteries (“We must ditch gas stoves and electrify our homes now”). My induction cooktop is faster, cleaner, safer and easier — plus I no longer have to breathe pre- and post-combustion toxic gases. And I will never set another pot mitt on fire either. No naked flame surely has to be cause for a house insurance discount!

I had been worried about my gas cooktop for some time before I finally took the plunge at the beginning of 2022. The flame extinguished itself at low settings, filling my kitchen with explosive and toxic gas. The flame blew out if I opened my window and a brisk breeze was blowing. It had an ominous odour about it when it was switched off.

The gas companies are now raising their prices and threatening to frack vast amounts of our country — drunk with greed. I no longer have to buy the filthy stuff and my family and I are far better off. Keep the toxic gas in the ground where nature safely stored it.

Dominic Quigley writes: I think the much greater problem about gas consumption in modern homes is the almost universal installation of instantaneous gas hot water services throughout the building industry in the past couple of decades. If journalists were to do their homework, they would discover that this is going to be a much bigger issue for homeowners — far more costly and more difficult to find the space for electric storage hot water systems, which are much more efficient, especially if connected to overnight off-peak rates. That of course also requires the installation of a second dedicated meter for each home.

I guess the gas hotplates story fires everyone up (pun intended) and is more obvious, but they actually consume far less gas than household gas hot water services.

Robin Sevenoaks writes: We’ve already ditched our gas stove, thank goodness. The more I read about health problems with gas cooktops the happier I am that we converted our home completely to electricity. The ACT government made it easy for us by offering an interest-free loan of $15,000.

Dr Ed La Vertu writes: Such nonsense is almost engineering stupidity because each kilowatt hour (unit) of electric power from the power station loses roughly 30% of energy due to electric resistance of the power lines and so on due to delivery processes. Such myths ought to be revealed as phony solutions and not as alternatives to gas, which delivers 100% energy at the flick of a switch.

Roger Clifton writes: Next time you ignite a gas flame, you could point it out to your children and say: “That is a fossil fuel.” No amount of tricky accountancy and slick word-doctoring can change the fact that those pretty blue flames are giving off fossil emissions, doomed to stay in the atmosphere forever.  One day the kiddies will want to know why we did not kill off those pretty blue flames sooner.

Simon Barney writes: In NSW we paid a fee of about $1300 recently to have the gas fully disconnected. This is different from closing your account. If you just do that the gas company continues to charge a small monthly fee for the connection even though you may have no gas appliances. That adds up. $1300 is the cost of closing the pipe from the street into the house. Gas companies in some states in the US have attempted to get similar fees legislated as a means of locking customers into gas. Obviously new appliances are costly, but this fee is surely the biggest deterrent to change. 

Fossil fuel interests here have in place a penalty that their US counterparts can only dream of. (Note: this disconnection is not handled by the company that bills you. There’s another company in charge of the pipes. I understand that this fee might not be charged in states other than NSW.) 

Garry Jones writes: The whole energy thing is getting pretty silly and whatever Australia might do is pretty meaningless when China is approving two new coal-fired power stations each week. We are killing our economy for no meaningful effect and China is laughing as Australia and the rest of the West are destroying their economies. Never forget: China says what it thinks is in its interests, then does whatever it wants, regardless of what it has said.

Brinley Jones writes: No, I will not switch to electric-only. Could you provide a follow-up article that considers the greenhouse emissions produced by private jets each year? How could you suggest a switch to electricity as a positive when gas is far more efficient and cost-effective?

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