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Energy Saver: Cooking Techniques
(continued ...) us when there is a leak and mercaptan gets your attention. Have I told you that I hate chemistry as well? Well I did hate it until I learned about distillation and a few other cool things but those are different articles. On top of that, add inefficient combustion issues with macaroni chunks petrified at the burner orifices. Or on electric elements, artifacts from past meals are turned to carbon deposits on electric elements insulating them from proper heat transfer. It's all very complicated and confusing. And again we are getting off the energy target.
In the winter time, most of that junk heat energy and excess water vapor released into the air are great. See the article on humidification in the winter. One of the danger flags for using natural gas or propane inside your house is carbon monoxide (CO). However, the short duration of most cooking is considered safe and CO accumulation is negligible. Have I mentioned that you should already own a carbon monoxide monitor? If not, consider getting a carbon monoxide sensor/alarm as the most important advice on this site.
Summertime has a different perspective on this junk heat energy. The added (drybulb) temperature is actually referred to as sensible heat. That excess water vapor is called latent heat. More to the point, reducing the drybulb temperature is called sensible cooling. Reducing the moisture present (wetbulb) in the air is called dehumidification or latent cooling. Sensible and latent heat energy are exactly the things that most air conditioning systems are designed to remove from the air in your house. Your air conditioner is a sensible-heat energy and latent-heat energy pump. 'Swamp coolers' are a twist to this that we'll explore in another article. Anyhow, your air conditioner pumps sensible energy outside ...