Simpatico Homes

An introduction to induction…

October 15th, 2010

Want to know how to cook faster, using less energy, with more control? Try cooking with magnetic induction, a process that bypasses heating the cooktop surface and goes right to heating the pot. The Net Zero Energy design for the Prototype Home presented us with an interesting dilemma– keep a gas line in the home only to run a gas cooktop or eliminate gas completely and embrace an alternative method?

Magnetic induction cooking uses electricity to produce a magnetic field that sends currents into iron atoms that react by movement which causes friction and heat in a metal vessel. The electro-magnetic elements are housed under a ceramic-glass surface.

Unlike conventional cooktops that create heat below a pot, the magnetic induction process makes the pot into the heating element. Food is heated more quickly and to precise temperatures. Because they are not directly heated, cooking surfaces cool more quickly eliminating the potential of injury from unknowingly coming in contact with a hot surface. Cooking with magnetic induction is also 90 percent efficient, as compared to resistance electric at approximately 65-percent efficiency, and open-flamed gas which measures in the 55-percent efficiency range.

The simple act of boiling water will never be the same!

Filed under: Green Building/Products, Prefab Housing, Prototype Home (Emeryville), Simpatico Homes