Replacing Gas Heating and Cooking

If you are like me, you are concerned about government bans on gas heating and cooking for the future. Many people say they like the warm feeling of gas heating and wonder how you can cook a stir fry in an electric pan without the flames.

As we have seen, advocates for global warming action are pressing governments in each state and at federal level to eliminate use of fossil fuels.

So, I was clearly interested when I saw an authoritative article from RMIT recently which explained why some people feel cold with reverse-cycle air conditioning and are not happy with the change.

The team at RMIT have done computer modelling of air flows in the home to offer some answers and solutions to being comfortable with reverse-cycle heating.

Apparently, it has a lot to do with our poorly insulated homes with single-glazed windows in Australia, which result in low surface temperatures and heat losses and temperature losses are high.

Also, our warm bodies radiate heat to the cold surfaces of the walls and windows. This means we tend to feel even colder when we are near the cold surfaces.

The RMIT study found a living room in a typical 1960s home has large areas of glazing on two sides, an internal end wall and a reverse-cycle air conditioner mounted high on the external end wall.

The diagram below shows the temperatures around a poorly insulated room, from the 30°C heater inlet to the 23°C temperature near the floor with a wind chill effect.

By contrast the diagram below shows the same room with same inlet heater temperature of 30°C and same air flow of 287 Litres/second, but with good home insulation and double glazing on the windows.

Not only is the room warmer but there is less difference in temperature in the various zones.

In short, to feel comfortable with reverse-cycle air conditioning we will need to better insulate our homes. RMIT researchers say this will also reduce our energy bills.

Acknowledgement: RMIT research team on reverse-cycle heating, published 2 October 2023.

Cooking Without Gas

From 1 January 2024 gas connections will be banned in Victoria for all new housing and sub-divisions. However, none of the research so far has fully answered the human desire for flame-cooked meals occasionally.

So far we have only seen suggestions to use; induction hot plates, microwave or toaster ovens, and using flat bottomed woks for stir frying.

We can only hope that new ideas will emerge allow electric cooking to provide us with the flavours, smells and taste, to match our favourite flame cooked meals.