Web search engine? Technical library? Plain ol' research? You could figure out how much time and energy it takes to cook specific types of food in a regular oven and what it takes to cook the same food in a microwave oven. Don't forget ancillary effects like the need to cool a home with a "regular" oven that is heating up the house above a certain level of comfort.

Well, that dated Univ. of Florida info (1991) reports that 5% of the energy consumed in the US is for food preparation - 4,000 TRILLION Btu's!!

According to the "Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings" (reliable source?) and assuming that the cost of electricity is $.08 a kWh, comparisons of the cost of cooking a casserole:

Electric Oven $.16
Microwave Oven $.03

Gosh, I'd think that if every family could prepare their Sunday casserole with an 80% savings of energy - that information would be worth trumpeting from the rooftops!!

Instead, this thread and my question, "Does using a microwave oven reduce energy consumption?" comes up in the 4th place in a google search today. So what credibility do I have?

Steve's digits

Here is a link that might be useful: Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings

The only problem I see is that I don't like cooking most foods in the microwave. Sure, it's great for some things and it's also great for reheating if you use a lower power setting. With that said, I use my infrared oven almost daily. I've never looked into the stats, but supposedly it uses much less energy than conventional ovens or stove-top cooking and the results are just wonderful.

Has anyone done any energy comparisons with these?

Kevin

Some of these issues may just "stand to reason" but numbers help.

On that Florida site (pdf), it states that 5.4% of the nation's energy is used processing food. That's even higher use than home/restaurant preparation!!

Here's where avoiding most of what's on the supermarket shelves would save an enormous amount of energy (while improving our diets :o).

Steve

Hey Kevin,

Take a look at that "Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings" linked above.

I've just discovered and am discovering how easy it is to make sauces in a microwave at low power settings. Of course, veggies cook really quickly no matter how they are prepared.

digits

Sorry, Kevin, I can't find that the Consumer Energy Center has anything about infrared ovens.

At a loss . . .

Steve

Thanks for checking Steve. According to the manufacturer, these things use 70% less energy than conventional cooking. Don't know if you can believe that or not, but I'm very satisfied with how they work.

Microwaves - Yes, I think the key to using these successfully is to use a lower power setting. I was having a problem with foods kind of exploding when I tried to reheat on high. 30 - 40% power seems to do the job much better. Have you ever tried to melt a stick of frozen butter on high? Trust me. Don't do it. Nothing worse than the inside of your microwave coated in exploded butter.

Kevin

Stove tops are notoriously inefficient for cooking in the summer. You heat the room with stove and cool it at the same time with the AC. When using microwaves you have to think. We cook a delicious potato soup by baking the potatoes in the microwave, then peeling them and putting them in the pot. It is much faster than boiling them. You can steam carrots, celery and other longer cooking items in the microwave and add the veggies and water to the pot after they are done. If you are freezing garden veggies, you can blanche them in the microwave and save tons of energy and time over the old stove top way. You just have to THINK and change your old habits.