"To further improve upon the efficiency of cooking, we have to take a closer look at where the greatest energy losses are incurred. For electric hobs and microwaves, the most significant waste of energy can be attributed to power conversion losses. Converting fossil fuels or biomass into electricity produces an energy efficiency level of 20-45% depending on the power plant, which explains why electric stoves are among the least efficient cooking devices. Gas stoves have the largest heat transfer losses of all modern cooking stoves. Picture: Ashley Bischoff @ Flickr. The second most significant energy loss for electric stoves, and the most important one for all other cooking stoves, occurs during the transferral of heat from the cooking hob to the food in the cooking vessel. Not all heat produced by the fire reaches the cooking pot, and heat is lost through the walls and lid of the pot, as well as through escaping steam." - Todd Hoff

Reminds me of this: http://inhabitat.com/rocket-... - Spidra Webster

Many dishes depend on relatively precise temperature control, which you can't achieve with cooking vessels that have a lot of thermal inertia... - Andrew C (✔)

We've done the thing where you put the turkey on high for a while in the oven and then turn off the heat. It works well. Though I understand what you are saying andrew, we just don't do a lot of that kind of cooking :-) And cool link Spidra. I was curious why it seems we haven't seen much innovation in cooking technology. - Todd Hoff