> If you can install 240v for your dryer or wall oven why not for your car? You can, of course, if you own a detached house or townhouse. But this question unintentially illustrates the point I was trying to make - even though it's possible to install a 240V outlet, convincing people to do so has proven difficult even when the speed advantage is obvious. The GE Advantium 120 ovens far outsell the 240v versions, even though the latter make better tasting, better textured food (because they don't rely as heavily on microwaves), and also are twice as fast. But many homeowners put up with the limitations of 120V/15A because they don't want to pay an electrician to install a 240V/30A line. Same with 240V washing machines - they can be fed cold water and still are faster than 120V machines that have internal water heaters, and can heat to higher temperatures. The best way to wash clothes is often to soak it in cool water first (so certain types of stains won't set), then heat the water as it washes to a high temperature that blasts out dirt. This takes a long time with a 120V washer. Combination washer/dryers that both wash and dry the clothes in one shot are popular in Europe, but here most manufacturers don't even offer them, and those that do, like LG, try to make them run on 120V/15A to be palatable to Americans. So not only does it take a long time to wash clothes, but an even longer time to dry them. Only Fagor-Brandt sells a 240V combo washer/dryer in the US, and it's hard to find except online. Nobody even sells a 240V dishwasher in the US, and noboby's brave enough to try, despite frequent complaints about how long new dishwashers take to complete a cycle. Maybe Americans value fast electric car recharging more than they do fast cooking or fast laundry. We'll see.

"If you burn a tree, it doesn't affect the global carbon levels as a tree is only a very brief part of the carbon cycle and the carbon trapped in it would have been soon released as Co2 when the tree died and decayed." This is totally incorrect. There is no CO2 gas trapped in a tree that is released during decay. Gasseous CO2 is taken into a plant through pores on the underside of a leaf. Through the process of photosyntesis a plant uses Chlorophil and Sunlight as a catalyst to combine the Gassesous CO2 and Water (H2O) to form Sugar (C12H22O11). Sugar is the stored form of carbon that is used as a fuel by both human and animal cells and combustion. In fact, combustion itself is merely the oxidation of carbon. Complete combustion, whether it takes place in a human or animan cell or in a fire requires 2.16lbs of oxygen per lb. of carbon. Heat is a byproduct of combustion. As plant matter decays, the sugars, which are the stored form of carbon are concentrated by heat and compression, first into compost, then to Peat, and finally to lignite and bituminous coal (Soft Coal) and with another million or so years of compression, it produces Anthracite or Hard coal. The problem here is that when excess vegatative matter decompose in the earth, they also combine with other elements that are present in the soil. Coal and oil is fundamentally only a concentrated form of plant sugars, however during the compression phase in the soil coal picks up trace amounts of other elements. The worst of which is sulphur. When complete combustion occurs the Hydrogen and carbon in the sugar is transformed by oxidation back into water vapor H2o and Carbon Dioxide which is then recycled back into sugars by plants. The process is never ending. (The presence of sulphur is almost non existant in corn or wood, therefore they do not contribute significantly to acid rain) However, when deep mined fossil fuels, that now contain trace amounts of sulpur are burned, the sulphur combines with oxygen to form suphur dioxide (SO2). The emitted Sulphur-dioxide then combines with water vapor (H2O) to form (H2SO4) sulphuric acid which falls in the form of acid rain. You stated in your post that growing corn is an extremly polluting process,,, AGAIN, TOTALLY UNTRUE.. With the advent of no-till planting and harvesting techniques the average fuel consumption per acre of corn is less than 1/2gal/acre as compared to the national average of 11 to 14 gal/acre to maintain a lawn for the same growing period. (Ref. Ohio State University- Agricultural Extension Service Bulletin) Fertilizer is only applied prior to planting as a preplant subsoil application of anhydrous amonia, and one post emergence application of nitrogen, but only after germination and before the corn plants produce the third leaf on the stalk. The application of fertilizers after the formation of the third leaf will actually yellow the corn and reduce crop yeilds (Again- The Ohio State University -Agricultural Extension Service Bullets on corn production). The applicaton of fertilizer is carefully regulated. Prior to application a farmer is required to perform soil tests and may only apply the absolute minimum necessary to maintain the nitrogen requirement of the specific crop. In no case may more than 10lb/acre per season be applied. By contrast, it is conservatively estimated that the american homeowners apply an average of 35lbs/acre on thier lawns. In fact, after nearly ten years of study the Ohio State University Agricultural extension service has determined that excess nitrate runoff from urban and suburban lawns and gardens is nearly 1000 times greater than the maximum allowable runoff for a farm. While it is easy for everyone to sit in there easy chair and point fingers at industry and agriculture for pollution, the fact is, we need to really monitor what we are discarding as a matter of course. By example, if a truck driver is unloading his trailer and drops a gallon jug of chlorox on the ground, he is required by law to stop and file an EPA hazmat incident report and define the method of cleanup, but once the truckload of chlorox is placed on the grocery shelf every consumer in town can dump gallons down thier drains, in their wells and swimming pools or whatever, without so much as a conscious thought of the outcome. Examine the chemicals under your kitchen sink, in your garage, basement and store room. Now multiply that by how many homes in your community? If any single corporation had that much excess hazardous waste laying around in a warehouse their would be no end to the public outcry. Everyone likes to complain about the electrical utility generating plant, but in truth they are required to constantly monitor their stack emmissions and make instant changes if it gets out of hand, but most homeowners havent a clue as to the combustion effieciency of their furnaces or water heaters.

Ok, you've confused efficiency with actual cost. Very easy to do. Gas will always be the least efficient, because some of the heat is exhausted out thru the flue of the home. When natural gas is burned properly, the exhaust is carbon dioxide and more efficient furnaces will also produce some condensation along with that carbon dioxide. (CO2) When there is improper combustion the furnace can produce carbon monoxide. (CO) In most instances of this there is a lack of combustion air, improper installation etc. A heat pump will never produce any exhaust 'at the home' of which it is installed. Heat Pump efficiency: there is no exhaust 'at your home' to run the heat pump. Depending on how the electricity is produced in your state. Some power plants use natural gas for power production... so in reality there is 'efficiency' losses thru waste or exhaust fumes. Dual fuel options: Prices change over time and thru various times gas costs can run higher. But with large recent discoveries natural gas will likely be the cheaper option, especially for areas that have average daily temperatures below 32 degrees. A heat pump loses efficiency due to running defrost mode when temperatures are less than 32 degrees out side. If your electric rate is high in your area then you would likely pay more to run a heat pump than you would a natural gas furnace. Heat pumps mainly exist for those who do not have gas available in their area, as compared to electric strip heat the cost effectiveness can pay for the heat pump within a few seasons. Typically in a electric strip set up for an average home you could have 4 heat strips that run 20 amps per strip. Under full load that is 80 amps. In comparison a modern day heat pump running in heat mode may use 10-15 amps under full load. Those operational savings in comparison to electric strip heat add up quick.

We owned a 48” Thermidor for 14 years and regretted it for 12 of those years. We put at least $2,000 into replacement parts over that time. And yes the oven fans were very loud and near the end they would stop working and then my oven would stop working. I spent over two years researching ranges and reading hundreds of reviews. Finally we decided on the 48” RNB. We considered the Platinum but I had the same concerns as M concerning the heat coming from the back of the oven only and the constant fan blowing. Convection isn’t always the best for baked goods, bread, cakes, cookies etc. After reading some reviews on the pros and cons, I decided to go with the RNB. I have no regrets. The ovens are so quiet that I had to check to see if I turned them on. I was so used to hearing a loud fan that at first I thought something was wrong. Took a little getting used to the quiet. I love these ovens! My Christmas cookies all came out perfect; nicely browned outside and moist on the inside. Cheesecake, brownies, bread, and pizza have all baked beautifully. Meats and casseroles bake evenly and on time. My old Thermador has not baked evenly in a very long time and often stopped in the middle of baking. The RNB small oven does a wonderful job. Both ovens heat up quickly. My old small oven was useless. It took nearly an hour to heat up and twice as long to bake. I baked two 9 x 13 dishes at once in my small RNB on Christmas day and they were both finished at the same time. I could never do that in my Thermador. The ovens clean up easily, if you just take a few minutes to wipe up after a spill. I did want the higher burners of the Platinum but the oven made the difference. Also I did not need to move the griddle around. I would have like a grill to but we grill outside whenever we want so that isn’t an issue. The rolled steel griddle is like a restaurant and so much nicer than I expected. You can turn it on and leave it while you prep with no concerns. I went to a restaurant store and purchased a cleaning pad like they use in restaurants. Cleanup is easy. Something else I love is the removable steel trays underneath the burners and griddle. I just stick them in the dishwasher every couple of weeks and the look like new! I would never go back to a Thermador. I hope this helps.