Eco Kettle by Product Creation Ltd.
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 01. 2.06
The Eco Kettle was invented, in the UK, by Brian Hartley and designed and developed for the marketplace by Product Creation Ltd in association with Mass Electrical Co Ltd. Eco Kettle has a patented dual reservoir, one of which holds 1.5 litres of water, along with a measuring button which allows any quantity--from a single cupful to full capacity--to be released into a separate boiling chamber. It "could save consumers 30% of energy compared with their normal kettle". The kettle has a 3kW stainless steel concealed element, a washable limescale filter, and a locking lid. If you're curious about how it operates, an owner's operating guide is located here. In UK online outlets, prices were found in the neighborhood of £39.95 ($US 68.72).
Why could we not simply pour the right amount of water into an ordinary stovetop kettle and save energy without buying more "stuff"? Well, we could; but, the tradeoff is not that simple. When you heat a stovetop kettle you are also heating the shell and handle in addition to the water inside. Additionally, a stove top element leaves residual heat in the resistance coil and its cover tube. These inefficiencies are reduced by using a plug-in electric kettle which is not "cordless". [Chosing a "cordless" plug in kettle, the kind with a removable base, means lowered efficiency.]
The built-in measuring capacity of the Eco-kettle adds convenience and precision. We should hope that the design also provides for an automatic shut off when the water reaches boiling point, and insulation to keep water hot until that phone call is finished. Bundling features is an advantage if it leads to a personal enjoyment that encourages conservation...to a point that is price determined.
We noticed that other electric teakettles, with many features comparable except for the dual reservoir, are priced in the $40 to $70 range. Eco Kettle is on the high end but not unreasonable, in other words.
Conclusion: Eco Kettle could be a good value if you don't have a functioning electric kettle and indeed want one. It does not make sense, however, to replace an existing electric kettle on the theory that the energy savings will make up for the resources needed to produce two electric kettles.
I'm wondering which method of boiling is more efficient and economical in the Northeastern US, gas stovetop or electric kettle?
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Of course gas stoves do not leave much residual heat with the burner elements. So that's a gas+. However, the heat transfer of open flame to the keetle base is far from 100%, especially if you run up the flame circle to high. On balance, I'd say that the non-cordless electric kettle wins first place.
We went from a traditional kettle on a gas stove to an electric without the silly two compartments (one uses fresh water to make tea, why would you want to have it sitting around? and is it too hard to read the lines on the side to figure out how much water to put in?) and can attest that it boils in half the time, and turns itself off when done, so it has to save lots of energy. None of these are cordless, they simply separate from the powered base for convenience and there is no loss of efficiency, I do not know why everyone doesn't have them!
I am sure John can do the math, but our burner on the gas range is 15,000 BTU's and the kettle draws 1500 watts. I can't figure out how to relate the two...
I am assuming that the dual container aspect fits well in a cultural framework where clean water does not come out of the tap. Bottled water or counter-top-filtered water is used to charge the teapot for the morning so as not to repeat the work processes over and over.
Great point in mentioning that there is more than one type of "cordless" base. One delivers electricity to an internal coil and the other leaves the heat source on the base ( an inefficiency).
i thought that the high thermal conductivity of water would mean that the close proximity of the extra water that you're not boiling could absorb heat from the smaller quantity of water that you are boiling, therefore using more electricity? We need one of those scientific bodies that does consumer product comparisons to rate comparitive energy use
but yeah, people commonly overfill their kettles and boil too much water which uses a lot of electricity in tea-loving Britain, so there's a need to address that behaviour. I think if your kettle has to be plugged in (isn't cordless) then it's more of a pain to repeatedly put in the correct amount of water from the tap - easier to fill it all up at once for most people, especially in pokey kitchens.
These special eco-friendly appliances and gadgets are just part of the marketing scheme targeting a culture of people with good intentions of saving the earth but it's just a money grab like Weight Watchers products on the grocery store shelves targeted and overpriced for fat people looking for hope. A $70 kettle? Sounds like a good money grab to me for naive consumers with too much money and good intentions.
The Eco Kettle is a nice idea with useful features but in regards to boiling the amount necessary, similar results could be achieved by filling the mug(s) intended for use with the water you want to boil. Then pouring it into the kettle so you boil exactly the amount needed? It's just a thought..
I bought one of these kettles and there appears to be a design fault as when boiling water is poured out, cold water also leaks out from the lid even if you put pressure on the lid to hold it down.