I had a look at what I pay for gas and electric in recent years:

mid-2022: elec→ 12.8¢/kWh :: gas→ 5.4¢/kWh
mid-2023: elec→ 21.2¹¢/kWh :: gas→ 7.4¢/kWh
mid-2024: elec→ 16.4¢/kWh :: gas→ 6.0¢/kWh

¹ (this price could even be higher because 8.4¢/kWh is also quoted for “distribution” and it’s unclear if that’s included in the 21.2¢ or if it’s added to it.)

I have struggled to grasp why Belgians have such a strong bias for electric ovens. Gas ovens are nearly non-existent and those that are being sold by places like Kreffel are very low-end. I have never seen an oven without a thermostat outside of Belgium. But in Belgium gas ovens have no thermostat. They just have levels 1 through 10 like on the stovetop. I only say this to illustrate how unpopular gas ovens are in Belgium.

Why is that the case, considering Belgian electricity costs more than double the cost of gas? I asked a few appliance salespeople. Paraphrasing:

• answer 1: “safety, because some years ago a gas line fueled a fire that killed many people inside the building”
• answer 2: “convenience, because by law every time you open the oven door the gas must shut off and it’s inconvenient to restart the oven every time you check on your food” (another sales person disagreed when I brought this up)
• answer 3: “efficiency”
• answer 4: “people prefer evenly distributed dry heat over uneven moist heat” (did not come from a sales person but this point is sometimes made by random consumers)

“Efficiency” is the most common answer. But I’m not convinced. The conversion of gas to electric at the powerplant is extremely lossy. Then the transmission of electricity is substantially lossy as well. The conversion back into heat energy in the kitchen is efficient, but big losses were already suffered just to get the electricity to the wall.

When some people use the word “efficient” they actually mean “economical”, but it’s probably not that either. Sure, from the wall to the food, an electric oven is more efficient than gas because the gas must be vented. But to be ecomonical the electric would have to use ~70% less kWh than gas, which seems highly unlikely.

I agree with answer 4. But that depends on what you cook. Dry heat from an electric oven is bad for baking cakes, but it can be remedied by filling a tray of water. Moist heat from gas ovens is not ideal for cooking crispy things like pizza crust, but it’s not a show-stopper. It’s also possible to add convection capability (a fan) to a gas oven to even the heat out.

I would easily trade some cooking conveniences for a lower energy bill. Just wondering why the most cost effective choice is so unpopular.

#askFedi #physics @askfedi@a.gup.pe