A Kitchen Conundrum
True confession: I would have a hard time giving up a gas stove. As an enthusiastic home cook—with an admittedly mixed track record of success—I love the intuitive sense of temperature control and elemental feeling of cooking over a flame that gas provides. But the ecological toll is enough to make me consider going electric. And someday I may not have a choice. New York City, where I live, recently started phasing in a ban of natural gas hookups in most new construction—including renovations that require a building permit. It’s one of many cities across the country to do so. Some 70 percent of New York’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, and a study published in January found that gas appliances leak methane into our homes even when they’re…
