Are Microwaves Green?

[kevinmoelk]

I'm terrible at figuring out these things... my question is: Are microwaves green?

By that I mean, do they save money heating up food vs. other methods of cooking? And yes, I'm sure using wood to cook is a great thing, I'd love to have an Esse, etc. But what I'm really interested in... let's take a can of chili for example. Is it more efficient to heat it up on the stove or with the microwave? Which uses more energy?

-Kevin

 

[Nofossil]

The microwave almost certainly uses less. The energy is absorbed directly by the food. You can tell because nothing else is hot - almost no energy wasted heating the oven itself or the air around it.

 

[mayhem]

Consider that a "normal" microwave uses 1500 watts (thats actually a pretty damn big microwave, but for the sake of comparison...) and can cook your raw baked potato in 10 minutes at 60% power right out of the fridge. In a conventional oven that same process would take about 45 minutes and you can guarantee the oven uses a hell of a lot more than 1500 watts.

I'd say a microwave saves alot of energy versus a conventional oven.

 

[BrownianHeatingTech]

Depends what you're trying to do with it.

Single baked potato? Go with the microwave.

Cooking a turkey? Go with the oven.

Electric ovens are great for cooking large items. It's when you are running that whole oven to cook something small, that you waste energy.

Of course, I prefer a countertop convection oven to a microwave. Microwaving does change the chemical composition of the food in certain ways. There's a debate about whether it might be unhealthy, and I'm not getting into that one, but I do know that I prefer the flavor of non-microwaved food in most cases.

As far as the stove top, that depends what you have for a stove... my next will be an induction cooktop, if they ever come out with a range model - I don't have counter space to waste on a dedicated cooktop with no oven underneath...

Joe

 

[Nofossil]

Of course, heating things by putting them on top of your wood stove is even more 'green'. Only way you can beat that is with a solar reflector oven.

Maybe I'll start a business marketing solar ovens:

"Forget microwaves. Cook your food with nuclear energy! Caution - overexposure to radiation from heat source is known to cause cancer."

 

[BrownianHeatingTech]

"Forget microwaves. Cook your food with nuclear energy! Caution - overexposure to radiation from heat source is known to cause cancer."

Next truck I get will have a slogan painted on it, advertising "nuclear fusion water heaters" with a tag line about how we've installed our millions of miles away, for safety.

Joe