Cooking food uses energy that comes in the mains, from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petrol, and natural gas. This process produces carbon dioxide, one of the gases that causes global warming. While there is no getting away from the fact that you do need to cook certain foods to make them edible, there are a number of things that you can do to reduce the impact that your cooking is having on the environment.

Cook with gas. Most of the electricity in the UK is generated by burning fossil fuels. Even the most efficient power stations are only able to turn around a third of the fossil fuel energy they consume into electrical energy. Further energy is then lost in an electric cooker as it turns that electrical energy back into heat energy. In comparison, gas cookers convert almost all of their fossil fuel energy into heat. Also, gas cookers heat up far quicker than electric ones, so do not need to be left on as long, saving energy and money.

If you do not already have a gas supply set up in your home, and you want to switch to cooking with gas, then you have to log onto the British Gas site (electricity suppliers) to set one up in your home, and have all your gas appliances checked for safety on an annual basis.

Don’t open the oven unnecessarily. An oven loses a lot of heat when you open it, which means that your food will take longer to cook, which is a waste of energy. If your oven has a front window, make sure this is kept clean at all times so that you can see the food inside clearly without having to open the oven. Also, when you are finished using the oven, leave it open, as this will help to heat the kitchen and any rooms above it with energy that would otherwise go to waste.