Cost of Cooking with Electric and Gas Ranges
The efficiency of cooking appliances affects the internal heat gain from them since an inefficient appliance consumes a greater amount of energy for the same task, and the excess energy consumed shows up as heat in the living space. The efficiency of open burners is determined to be 73 percent for electric units and 38 percent for gas units (Fig. 2-57). Consider a 2-kW electric burner at a location where the unit costs of electricity and natural gas are $0.09/kWh and $0.55/therm, respectively. Determine the rate of energy consumption by the burner and the unit cost of utilized energy for both electric and gas burners.