Renewables-based Cooking

Our solution is in addition to whatever the customer has – say, LPG cylinder or piped natural gas for cooking. We do not anticipate pure substitution to begin with. No one is likely to give up on gas cooking right away, especially when they have it at home already. They will buy our system and use the LPG gas less and less over time as the speed, efficiency of induction cooking persuades them in its favor.

We expect new behaviors to emerge as the light weight, cooking speed, power and portability of induction cooking impresses end users. For instance, cooking on the dining table instead of at the kitchen counter.

For the longest time, mothers in the apartment building we grew up in used kerosene stoves at home and even maintained a coal-based stove. They were major hassles associated with them – they required the purchase of kerosene, involved cleaning vents using a special tool for the kerosene stove, required pumping the piston to build pressure on the kerosene tank. The coal at the time of lighting gave off a lot of smoke and stained the ceiling in the kitchen. Rags were soaked in kerosene to light a fire to start the coal burning. All this is barely twenty years ago. Now, the kerosene stove and the coal-fired cookstove are gone. LPG dominates in Indian urban kitchens, at the cost of a significant import bill for the fuel.

A student from Rajasthan said his mother lights a coal-based stove each day, keeps it outside in the open air initially to let the smoke go away. She then brings it inside the home for cooking rice. The rice cooked on such stoves is apparently superior in taste than any gas stove! Regardless, the point is that cooking habits are ingrained, and will die slowly, and likely with generational change. Women today in their forties are unlikely to accept our solution right away. Younger generations used to a smartphone will appreciate the push button and fine controls of an induction cooktop. We anticipate inter-generational acceptance issues.

When a middle-aged woman was given an induction cooktop as a gift, she immediately related to the portability of the appliance. She moved it to the dining table, and watched TV as she cooked. The induction cooktop liberated her from the wall and the kitchen counter!