Which is the most energy efficient ?

[pubrunner]

I've got to cook tonight; I'll be boiling some spuds.

Is it more energy efficient to boil a kettle and then fill the saucepan with that ? Or will less energy be used, by heating a saucepan containing cold water ? (I'm inclined to boil a kettle and use the water from that).

 

[Archie_tect]

F-in-L always told me to start boiling root vegetables from cold, and start leaf and seed vegetables using boiling water.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Use the patio heaters, out the back of your pub, to warm the water.

 

[mangaman]

F-in-L always told me to start boiling root vegetables from cold, and start leaf and seed vegetables using boiling water.

Quite right. If you want the spuds evenly cooked, start with the water cold

 

[rich p]

Use a panful of hot water from the tap - it's already been heated and will be boiled and sterilised anyway.

 

[summerdays]

Well I monitor our electricity consumption in the house ... and I don't like the spikes in electricity consumption logging graph when I turn the kettle on - so I usually go for boiling the water in the pan when cooking. But I as I only usually fill the kettle with enough water to cover the element and make one cup its not on that long. I assume the gas way is cheaper though not necessarily using less energy.

Mind you - you don't say whether you have got gas or electric hob. You didn't say how big the pan was either - do you need one or two kettles worth?

Also you loose a bit of heat transferring the boiling water over to heat the saucepan too.

I await someone more scientific in their analysis. (By the way my one cup of coffee I just boiled used .... 0.02 kWh of electricity I think).

Do you want me to report back on how much a whole kettle's worth would be?

 

[summerdays]

Use a panful of hot water from the tap - it's already been heated and will be boiled and sterilised anyway.

I do that anyway whether it is for the kettle or the saucepan.

 

[pubrunner]

Mind you - you don't say whether you have got gas or electric hob. You didn't say how big the pan was either - do you need one or two kettles worth?

Electric hob - one kettles worth.

Quite right. If you want the spuds evenly cooked, start with the water cold

This could explain why my better half doesn't like my cooking.

 

[summerdays]

Surely it doesn't need to be sterilized ... its about to boil anyway.

 

[rich p]

I meant it's been heated already to quite a high temperature and will later be boiled anyway. Clearly inelegantly and badly put by me!

 

[Aperitif]

I meant it's been heated already to quite a high temperature and will later be boiled anyway. Clearly inelegantly and badly put by me!

You'll get yourself into hot water, making inelegant moves like that, Rich!

 

[SavageHoutkop]

I have heard before that the kettle is more efficient so that's what I do; but you have to balance that with the fact that the kettle is probably electric where the hob is probably gas, and the electricity probably came from a gas-fired turbine; so the losses in the system getting the electricity to your house mean gas might trump electricity. Although my electricity is theoretically 100% renewable due to the provider I'm with the stuff actually getting to my plugs probably isn't; but overall I'm paying based on my electricity usage for some renewable electricity somewhere....

 

[ohnovino]

I use the kettle, but just before it finishes I put a small amount of water in the pan and heat that up, so I don't end up putting the boiling water straight into a cold pan.

There's no fear of underestimating the energy used by my kettle - the lights in the kitchen dim whenever it's on.

 

[rich p]

You'll get yourself into hot water, making inelegant moves like that, Rich!

Inelegant is my middle name. I dance like King Edward Vll to a tune by the Dagenham Girl Maris Pipers after a dinner at Whites. Here's me with the commie spy, red Desiree.

 

[Dayvo]

For mash get smash (and then roll them into potato-like shapes).