Some Cities Are Banning Gas Cooking Stoves in New Homes in Order to Fight Global Warming

For locals in 13 different California cities, a change may soon be coming to the way they do their day-to-day cooking. According to USA Today, new zoning codes in the Golden State were enacted in June of this year to help prevent home builders from adding natural gas lines to new properties. This change is a call to the nation's desire to prioritize carbon-neutral energy sources. "There's no pathway to stabilizing the climate without phasing gas out of our homes and buildings. This is a must-do for the climate and a livable planet," said Rachel Golden of the Sierra Club's Building Electrification Campaign.

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Renewable energy found in the form of electric appliances is the new preference for environmentally-friendly cooking. Per Robert Jackson, a professor of energy and the environment at Stanford University, the new building codes were put in place as the local government looked to transition from natural gas to fossil fuels. "Every house, every high-rise that's built with gas, may be in place for decades. We're establishing infrastructure that may be in place for 50 years," he said.

Though many people assume that gas ranges are superior than electric versions, experts say that's actually not the case. In fact, professional chefs claim that there is no significant difference between cooking on the two appliances. The induction stove in particular is gaining popularity among professional chefs due to its use of electromagnetic energy to heat kitchenware. "Some of the finest restaurants in Europe are often out in mountainous areas or places where there isn't gas. They cook on induction and that works just fine," said Mark Erickson, master chef at the Culinary Institute of America.