Which is more economical: heating water on the gas stove or in the kettle?
Life is getting more expensive — hooray expensive supermarket — not to mention the insane gas bills.. As a result, we’re encouraged to make smarter choices, or at least think about them. In that category: when you heat water for your cup of tea, is it more economical to switch on the kettle or light the gas stove?
Radar conducted an investigation into this and ultimately answered two questions: what is more efficient and what is cheaper?
What is more efficient?
In this case, the kettle comes out on top. That’s because a lot of heat is lost around the pan of water when you use a gas stove. If you heat your water in a kettle, no less than 80% of the energy ends up in the water. What’s more, most kettles switch off immediately when boiling point is reached, so no more energy than necessary is ever used. And there’s something else: to bring the same amount of water to 100 degrees, you use less electricity with a kettle than when using a gas stove. Sometimes as much as half as much!
What is cheaper?
Now for an important question for our wallets: what is cheaper, heating water in the kettle or on the gas stove? So it takes more energy to use the gas stove, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is more expensive. In its investigation, Radar used a calculation example in which the amount of gas used was converted into kWh. One cubic metre of gas currently costs around 3 euros, which means you pay 30 cents per kWh. Electricity, on the other hand, costs 0.75 per kWh and is therefore 2.5 times more expensive than using the gas stove. Let’s take the calculation a little further: boiling 1 litre of water costs around 9 cents at a gas rate of 3 euros; with electricity, you end up paying just over 11 cents and 6 cents respectively. Conclusion (before you start having physics nightmares): in this case, gas is slightly cheaper than electricity.
The ultimate tip: boil what you need
The most important tip is undoubtedly simpler than all the calculations above: boil only the water you need. You really waste a lot of water if you fill an entire kettle every time you make one cup of tea. So measure out more carefully how much water you need to boil — that will ultimately save you the most. And if you still want to make the most environmentally friendly choice, choose the kettle.
Source: Radar
