a) Health: Most of the studies are VERY preliminary. Only a minor correlation has been found between gas and childhood asthma. And the studies mostly confined themselves to home environments. Commercial kitchens already have much higher standards for ventilation quality.

b) Environmental: I think a good case could be made that eventually gas will go away as we transition. But currently it's still being burned off at the wellhead in the US as a waste product. It also only puts out a tiny carbon footprint compared to coal or oil - which would make it a slight improvement over using the average city power grid right now.

Your argument about the environment is a strawman.

The discussion is about gas vs. electric stoves, not gas vs. coal.

if there's anywhere waste should be permissible, it's how people prepare their food. for defenses of that i'd refer to arguments in favor of waste in the medical system that address quality of care and outcomes

> more control over heat

with gas, i choose how far the pan is from the heat source, and i know how much energy is coming out of the burner no matter what stove i'm using because i can look at the flames

> gas distribution pipes leak

when the gas goes out, which mine never has, i can cook with the toaster oven and heat my home with space heaters. when the power goes out, as it does a few times a year, i can cook with the stove and heat my home with the furnace

Samsung and other nice induction units have a visual indicator that while a bit silly from some perspectives, replaces looking at the flames.

https://www.google.com/search?q=samsung+induction+flame+indi...

No guessing. No experience required. Just measured. Done.

These old-fashioned things https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-segment_display , you know?

One could possibly overengineer it by showing the chosen temperature in red, and the actual temperature in blue, or something.

From personal experience this is unnecessary, as evidenced by water boiling at 100°C, starting to have a few small bubbles/sparkles at 90°C, and none of that at 80°C.

Very few people cook with temperature as part of the process (stove top, anyway).

But nerd that I am, one of the first things I tried was that bubble check until boiling, and how exact the display is. Since that time I'm considering any other method obsolete. Power in Watts? Useless. Some arbitrarily chosen steps? Useless. Temperature, sight and smell it is!

Step 1: believe that the controls are consistent and reasonably accurate Step 2: learn what control setting corresponds to what level of heat

The biggest problem with this method is that it can take a while (for me, perhaps on the order of a year or two). At this point, with my current gas range, I don't need to look at the flame - I know that half-way between "medium" and "medium-low" is just what I need for the current cooking task.