Energy Usage on Different Cooking Methods in Boiled Cooking and Effectiveness of Adding Steaming Operation

Abstract

To study cooking methods from an ecological viewpoint, primary energy consumption and CO₂ emission for different cooking methods were calculated, based on gas and electricity usage. These results were compared for cooking one ingredient until the finished texture was achieved.
For “boiling” the samples of potatoes, eight cooking methods involving gas and microwave were used.
It was observed that, under experimental conditions, the total cooking time, primary energy consumption, and CO₂ emission were effectively reduced by adding steaming operation to both gas and microwave cooking techniques.
Further, the amounts of primary energy consumption and CO₂ emission for gas cooking were found to be lower than those for microwave cooking, in spite of longer cooking times. It was concluded that the addition of steaming method to both gas and microwave cooking can reduce the adverse ecological effects of primary energy consumption and CO₂ emission.