As environmental organizations continue to stress the need to go green, more and more folks are starting to take heed. An environmentally responsible way of supporting the go green movement is by upgrading your conventional oven to a green one. Have a look at the break down of the types of ovens to consider when going green.
Gas Ovens
From their name, you can guess the main source of fuel for these types of ovens. They are the conventional ovens that burn gas to emit heat for baking or cooking food. Gas ovens are considered eco-friendly as they use less energy compared to their electric sisters. Reason being, gas heats up the oven in about twice as less time as it would take electric ones. You, therefore, get to save the amount of energy consumed in one cooking.
Gas ovens are however difficult to install. For safety reasons, invite an experienced professional to in fit a gas line for your home. The initial cost will obviously be high, but the payoff down the line proves to be a wise move.
Convection Ovens
These types of ovens forego the use of radiant heat like most gas and electric ovens and instead opt for heating the air inside the oven. Convection ovens come fitted with a fan that circulates heated air evenly across the entire oven. The results are a faster-heated oven that uses about one-third less energy compared to gas and electric ovens.
Additionally, convection ovens pose another benefit over conventional ones. With conventional ovens, temperatures drop when you open the oven to adjust the racks — as its normal when baking cookies. With convection ovens, the fan keeps circulating the heated air evenly across the oven, such that the drop in temperature when adjusting the rack is not as significant. This may not seem as important at first thought, but the end result is less energy used in re-heating the oven to the preferred temperature.
Microwave Ovens
These types of ovens are electric in nature. They are however considered eco-friendly as they employ electromagnetic waves to heat food. The waves work by vibrating food particles to create enough friction to heat up. They may not be the best ovens for grilling or browning food, but they reheat food pretty easily energy efficiently.
Combination Ovens
Combination ovens are a hybrid between two eco-ovens; convection and microwave. They employ both heated air and electromagnetic waves to cook food, resulting to minimal energy needed to cook food. Combination ovens have an advantage over the rest. Should one of the heating mechanisms fail or malfunction, the other can take over and serve you until you schedule a proper appliance repair service to restore optimal functioning.
Sabbath Mode Ovens
Do not let the name fool you. These types of ovens have nothing to do with religion. Sabbath mode is a feature that keeps the food heated up for an extended period of time, even after the oven is turned off. They come in handy especially on days that dinner is ready but your significant other is running late from work.
Small ovens are generally more eco-friendly compared to large ones. You do not need to go extravagant if your end game is going green. After all, most eco-ovens come in the standard size for most home kitchens!