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Cooking is the time-honored tradition of burning something until it is food you want to eat. In the case of meat, we essentially turn something that is gross to our modern eyes into something that is tasty (or still gross to many). There are a variety ways to burn plant and animal bits until they are food, but we should be interested in the ways that are energy efficient.
There are cookware on the market that can reduce your energy costs. Here is a quick guide to the different cooking wares that can be employed to reduce energy costs and pollution.
1.Copper-Bottomed Pans
Copper heats up faster than other types of metals due to its conductive properties. The less time you spend cooking your Hamburger Helper in a copper pan, the less energy you expend.
2.Glass Cookware in the Oven
Glass or ceramic works best in the oven. According to the American Council for Energy Efficiency, you can cook your meals at 25 degrees lower in the same amount of time when you use glass or ceramic cookware instead of metal.
3.Pressure Cookers
A pressure cooker will use only 25% of the energy that cooking with a warped bottom pan will consume.
4.New Microwave Ceramics
Researchers in Japan and Pennsylvania have been working on a new type of ceramic cookware for microwave use. This cutting-edge cookery can help heat up food faster and have it stay hot longer. The microwave cooks through induction, so the microwave-cooked food does tend to go cold faster. The new microwave cookware may put an end to that. (NOTE: Induction stoves are touted as an energy-efficient way to cook. I'm not bagging on induction, just pointing out a small problem with it.) 5.Waterless Cookware Waterless cookware uses less energy than conventional cookware. You start by heating the food on medium and drop the temperature as the pressure in the cookware rises. 6.Crock Pot Is the crock pot considered cookware? I'll allow it. Slow-cooking in a crock pot saves energy.
