City residents are gradually switching to induction stoves, following the government’s decision to impose a six-cylinder-a-year cap on subsidised cooking gas for households.
The announcement on the restriction was made on September 14. Since then, electronic showrooms across the city have had a spike in their sales of the stoves.
Vivek’s, a popular electronic store, has been busy this month. At its largest showroom on North Usman Road, T. Nagar, they sold 70 induction stoves in September and have already sold 53 this month. A. Vijaykumar, an executive branch operative said, “A gas cylinder will only last for about a month unlike the induction stoves, which have an unlimited source. Also, food gets cooked faster on them.”
D. Anand, a salesman at the Vasanth showroom in T. Nagar, said a lot more people had been visiting the showroom, especially on the weekends. “There is at least a 30 per cent increase in the number of people who come to check out induction stoves,” he said. Likewise, at one of their showrooms, one of the employees said, “In the past few months we have been selling around 35 induction stoves on an average. But this month we have already sold 28.”
Residents feel that inductions stoves are now a necessity. Dorothy Coyne, with a family of five, has started cooking some meals on the induction stove. “One cylinder every two months for three meals a day is not enough. So we have started making breakfast on the induction stove so that we can save the gas for other meals,” she said.
While a few have already made the switch, others use an induction stove between the time their cylinder is over and delivery of the new one. Kanchana Vivekananda, a resident of Defence Colony, does this. “The last couple of times, the cylinder did not arrive on time. So the induction stove came in handy. It is also better in some ways since the heat is controlled and there are less chances of food getting burnt on it,” she said.
Keywords: induction stoves, LPG cylinder cap
There is a total lack of information about the comparative economy in use of electricity between induction cooker and microwave. Without this knowledge one can not select between these alternatives, though there are other considerations like the type of cooking that can be handled with these gadgets. I would request The Hindu to publish an article on this.
This will ruin the alreary plagued power system in TN as addl. overload. The best course for public is to slowly try to switchover to solar power and isolate from grid nuisance forever. God alone knows whether solar industry in India has become efficient and cost effective to meet the demand.
It looks our major achievements are, The worlds bigger mosquito
repellant industries, distilled water / mineral water industry and now
induction cook top industry. Long live our growth.
But What about the southern districts that suffer from a 16-18 hour power cut?
The usage of Electricity energy for heating/cooking is considered
most inefficient use of the source. Moreover, it is not a clean
and green source.
I do not agree with LPG supplies. As long us supplies are available
it would be preferable mode of energy for kitchen.
Oflate, a host of companies launched Ad blitz for marketing the
induction stoves. These were available for the past. Now, it has
become a trend to utilise in the kitchen.
We had all other gadgets in the kitchen like Refrigerators, Mixer
and Grinders; Oven and Microwave. Let us conserve energy and go
for most eco friendly than economical friendly fuels in the kitchen.
Thanks
I have been thinking of going in for an induction cooker. But, how safe are they? They are said to use electromagnetic waves.
And the electricity is coming from........?
Consumers wish to know more about the cooking with induction stoves as
more and more families would like to buy such stoves, given the higher
price for LPG cylinders beyond six in a year. A variety of such stoves
are in the market; but consumers need detailed information about more
dependable models, cost of cooking a day’s meal for say family of four
and standards of safety. Hopefully reliable models will come in the
market to meet consumers’ demand.
Half a century ago in a stall in an exhibition I saw an induction stove on top of it was a block of ice and over which a vessel with some water. We saw the water in the vessel got heated without melting the ice. The induction stove creates electrical waves which interact with the vessel (it has to be ferro magnetic) wherein the heat is generated. Hence 100% of the energy input is conveyed to the vessel. In a gas stove heat is released in the burner, which heats the surrounding air which in turn heat the cooking vessel. Only about 40% of the heat from the burner of a gas stove is imparted to the vessel. Compared to a gas stove induction stove is twice as energy efficient .
A Special vessel made of 3 layers of different metals is required for the best energy efficiency in an induction stove. So having induction stove alone does not ensure best energy efficiency. Cooking in induction stove is very fast compared to gas stove.
Induction stove requires energy in the form of Electricity which is also more unreliable.
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