Gas v Electricity

Homer J

My 3KW electric kettle has gone up the spout :evil: so i was thinking do i get one that heats up old style on my gas hob or another electric. The question is which one would be cheaper to heat 1L of water?

Smokin Joe

Dunno.

Stewie Griffin

Would a saucepan on a gas hob not do the same job as a kettle? Everyone knows that gas boiled water tastes nicer than lecky boiled water :roll:

BeaconRuth

Homer J wrote:

My 3KW electric kettle has gone up the spout :evil: so i was thinking do i get one that heats up old style on my gas hob or another electric. The question is which one would be cheaper to heat 1L of water?

Not sure about cost but my brother is a fairly keen environmentalist and he insists on boiling water in an old-fashioned whistling kettle on the gas hob rather than using an electric kettle. I guess the energy losses and environmental impact of generating the electricity are far worse than the direct use of the gas. It delivers its energy far more directly into heating the kettle than does the gas, coal or nuclear power which is used to generate the electricity. (He also measures out carefully the quantity of water needed and doesn't heat more than is necessary - you can make big savings doing that over an extended period.)

Ruth

Homer J

Thanks.
I think i might give the whistling kettle a try.

rake

you can get kettles (electric) for making tea etc that boil on demand at the touch of a button. It must be cheaper because you only boil what you put in the cup. much faster too (3 seconds)
http://www.tefal.co.uk/All%20Products/B ... 0Black.htm
upto 65% energy saving

sungod

assuming a traditional ketle sitting on the hob, there's a lot more wasted energy with a gas hob - feel the hot air blasting around the edges

this says gas hobs are about 31% efficient - http://www.frperc.bris.ac.uk/home/opini ... em0006.htm - seems a typical figure

a plastic-bodied electric kettle with the element immersed in the water wastes far less energy

so which is 'greener' in terms of fuel used, depends on where your electricity comes from

if it's coal then electricity at point of use is about 35% efficient
and for gas turbine 37-47% (40-50% less 3% transmission losses)

see http://chp.decc.gov.uk/cms/centralised- ... eneration/

and if it's atomic, hydro, wind, there are violent disagreements about the subject, so won't go there :-)


so for coal generation 35% vs. 31%, not much in it for a well-designed electric kettle vs. gas hob

if it's gas turbine then the electric kettle probably has an edge

coal or gas generated, an electric heat on demand unit will beat gas hob and kettle hands down - it's not how you heat the water, it's how much water you heat

Ginjafro

They probably cost about the same, which is small compared to all the other items using energy, day in day out. However, before I upgraded to gas central heating I just used gas on the cooker hob which was used daily but only cost about £2.50 a quarter !

awallace

I like gas but i like leccy, but which is better?....

Theres only one way to find out!

swagman

A whistling kettle will last forever but i havent had an electric one thats lasted barely past a year.

rake

do you boil it dry.

Mayniac

sungod wrote:

assuming a traditional ketle sitting on the hob, there's a lot more wasted energy with a gas hob - feel the hot air blasting around the edges

this says gas hobs are about 31% efficient - http://www.frperc.bris.ac.uk/home/opini ... em0006.htm - seems a typical figure

a plastic-bodied electric kettle with the element immersed in the water wastes far less energy

so which is 'greener' in terms of fuel used, depends on where your electricity comes from

if it's coal then electricity at point of use is about 35% efficient
and for gas turbine 37-47% (40-50% less 3% transmission losses)

see http://chp.decc.gov.uk/cms/centralised- ... eneration/

and if it's atomic, hydro, wind, there are violent disagreements about the subject, so won't go there :-)


so for coal generation 35% vs. 31%, not much in it for a well-designed electric kettle vs. gas hob

if it's gas turbine then the electric kettle probably has an edge

coal or gas generated, an electric heat on demand unit will beat gas hob and kettle hands down - it's not how you heat the water, it's how much water you heat

But in the case of a kettle on a gas hob, the 'wasted' heat goes to warm your kitchen, whereas the heat wasted at the power station serves no such useful purpose. So at this time of year at least, the gas hob has a better end use efficiency.

zippypablo

you can't put the kettle on the hob and leave it while you have a shower etc. You can switch on an electric kettle and leave it while you do something else then come back to it. So I'd say electric is more efficient.

rake

we seem to be assuming there are no transmission looses of gas like electricity. doesnt gas have to be fractionated down and pumped with turbine engines. that must use energy. gas also blows the odd row of houses down .

nwallace

Immersion heaters are possibly less efficient than heating the base of a pan with gas.
Of course environmentally the difference between Gas and Electricity is Gas is much cleaner at the point of burning the source material. (Natural Gas is cleaner than Coal and less scary than Nuclear)

Problem with Gas of course is that we are running out with imports expected to go from 9% to 60% in the next decade, which means relying on the Russians.

Mayniac

zippypablo wrote:

you can't put the kettle on the hob and leave it while you have a shower etc. You can switch on an electric kettle and leave it while you do something else then come back to it. So I'd say electric is more efficient.

Efficient or convenient?

zippypablo

Mayniac wrote:

zippypablo wrote:

you can't put the kettle on the hob and leave it while you have a shower etc. You can switch on an electric kettle and leave it while you do something else then come back to it. So I'd say electric is more efficient.

Efficient or convenient?

both. When you're rushing around it's a more efficient use of your time to put on the kettle and ignore while you do something else. That would be of more use to me and the reason we got rid of our whistling hob kettle a few years ago.

sungod

Mayniac wrote:

sungod wrote:

assuming a traditional ketle sitting on the hob, there's a lot more wasted energy with a gas hob - feel the hot air blasting around the edges

this says gas hobs are about 31% efficient - http://www.frperc.bris.ac.uk/home/opini ... em0006.htm - seems a typical figure

a plastic-bodied electric kettle with the element immersed in the water wastes far less energy

so which is 'greener' in terms of fuel used, depends on where your electricity comes from

if it's coal then electricity at point of use is about 35% efficient
and for gas turbine 37-47% (40-50% less 3% transmission losses)

see http://chp.decc.gov.uk/cms/centralised- ... eneration/

and if it's atomic, hydro, wind, there are violent disagreements about the subject, so won't go there :-)


so for coal generation 35% vs. 31%, not much in it for a well-designed electric kettle vs. gas hob

if it's gas turbine then the electric kettle probably has an edge

coal or gas generated, an electric heat on demand unit will beat gas hob and kettle hands down - it's not how you heat the water, it's how much water you heat

But in the case of a kettle on a gas hob, the 'wasted' heat goes to warm your kitchen, whereas the heat wasted at the power station serves no such useful purpose. So at this time of year at least, the gas hob has a better end use efficiency.

but the question was about heating water, not the kitchen. and doing it with electricity is more efficient