Kitchens of India, plug in, go electric!

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

clean energy. GoI is reportedly planning to offer free PNG connections and consumption subsidies to poor households to help its wider adoption, following the Ujjwala scheme, which nudged the less well-off to use LPG instead of burning biomass. That's fine.

But why not simultaneously push for electrification of kitchens in better-off India till the former catches up?

The top percentile of urban households can make using electrical appliances like induction cooktops, instead of gas, de rigueur. Electric cooking makes kitchens safer, and reduces the country's dependence on gas imports. Cooking gas releases toxic pollutants, including NO2, CO and formaldehyde, not to mention toxic air pollutants in unburned gas that have been linked to cancer.

Electric cooking is yet to take off among Indians who can afford it.

According to Indian Residential Energy Survey 2020, only about 5% household kitchens across India are 'electric', with a higher percentage in urban areas. 10.3% of households use electricity for cooking as a secondary source. Pushing for more energy-efficient appliance use in our cities and towns will also free up PNG for households that can't yet afford the former, cleaner, less hassling option.