We all need to cook our meals, so we spend a huge deal of time in the kitchen. Well, that’s only for those who actually know how to cook and don’t entirely depend on Chinese, pizza, or take-out. Anyway, cooking is done either through gas stoves, or electric stoves. Although there are the greener alternatives out there such as the induction cookers, they cost quite a lot, about over $700 more than the regular gas or electric stove.

So given the cost, we are left with 2 obvious choices – electric stove and gas stove. The question is which is better in terms of performance and the environment?

Gas stoves can provide instant heat, unlike the electric stoves which take an awful time to heat up or cool down. And because it takes a lot of time for electric stoves to provide heat, it means that more power is used and wasted. With gas stoves, flames are instantly achieved, thereby using the gas more efficiently. Also, gas stoves allow us to control the temperature better than the electric stoves can. Gas stoves also allow us to do more methods of cooking, such as roasting and toasting over fire, which cannot be done when using an electric stove.

In terms of durability, electric stoves have coils that can be broken or damaged quite easily, which means more money down the drain. Whereas with gas burners, there are no coils to worry about, and they last longer, which means more value for our money.

In terms of safety though, some of us may feel more secure with electric stoves, as there’s no gas leak, carbon monoxide leak, ignition system, ventilation issues, or a burner to worry about unlike with gas stoves.  With regards to cleaning, electric stoves win hands down as they have more flat and smooth surfaces to clean compared to the gas stoves which takes more time to clean and maintain.

So to answer which is better when taking the environment and performance into consideration, the gas stoves win hands down. However, if we were to consider our individual lifestyles, our choices would really vary. Those who love to cook would be better off with gas stoves, while those who seldom or rarely cook would be better off with the electric powered ones.