California's next frontier in fighting climate change: your kitchen stove
Curtis Stone has been using induction cooktops for years. The Australian celebrity chef - who operates acclaimed restaurants in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills and is planning a pop-up eatery at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this month - said the electric cooking technology is faster, cleaner and more efficient than a traditional gas stove.
"And they're more accurate," Stone said. "I know I'll get a rolling simmer on a 6, and I know I'll get a rapid simmer on a 7, and I know I'll get a rapid boil on an 8."
Induction cooktops have another advantage: They don't burn natural gas, a fossil fuel that contributes to climate change. California is looking for ways to phase out fossil gas, not just from power plants but also from stoves, water heaters and furnaces.
That could involve a long-term transition to all-electric homes and other buildings for tens of millions of Californians, a plan supported by clean energy advocates and some state officials.
Not everyone is on board.
The electrification plan could prompt a confrontation between the country's biggest gas distribution utility, Southern California Gas Co., and its second-biggest electric utility, Southern California Edison. The monopoly powerhouses are already promoting competing visions for the Golden State, with Edison pushing a future powered by electricity and SoCalGas touting the climate benefits of so-called renewable gas.
For SoCalGas, electrification
