Thousands of New Yorkers swap gas for induction stoves in clean energy push

The Guardian -   Over two days last month people in 15 co-op apartments in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan who have had to rely on portable hot plates and microwaves for meal preparation were fitted with new induction stoves via a scheme supported by state and city governments, along with non-profit groups....

Copper, the company that supplied these induction stoves ... is now working on a $32m pilot to replace gas stoves in 10,000 apartments across the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) system – the largest public housing network in the US. An initial trial in 100 of these apartments should start early next year.

Advocates claim the inroads induction stoves are making in New York, following a similar move made to install the stoves in low-income housing in California, demonstrate a viable alternative to gas, which has jumped in price amid the Iran war. Gas also gives off pollution harmful to the health of residents and worsens the climate crisis.

Residential energy use, including gas for cooking, accounts for around a fifth of US greenhouse gas emissions. Nitrogen dioxide wafting from gas’s blue flame can also exacerbate respiratory and heart problems, with exposure most severe in small apartments with poor ventilation. These indoor toxins are not regulated, unlike outdoor air pollution, despite potentially being up to five times as extreme....

Just 3% of US homes have electric induction stoves, which use magnetic fields to heat cookware directly.