Cooking energy efficiently

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Ovens may be the most energy inefficient appliance in the kitchen.  Instructions and recipes for many foods ask that we preheat the oven, then cook for some prescribed length of time.  We pull out the foods, then turn off the oven.  If it's just one item we have to cook, and if we own a fairly large oven, then a lot of energy (heat) is generated but a good portion of it is wasted.  If possible, of course, cook more than one item at a time or use a smaller, kitchen counter oven for just one item.

Enter: the kind of thinking and doing, courtesy of The Core Algorithm, which aim to be as conserving of energy as possible (rf. Part 3 - Dealing with Everyday Exigencies):

I want to cook a box of frozen chicken, and the end in mind is to do so with the least amount of oven time (Step 1).

The instructions said to preheat the oven at 430° F, which takes about 10 minutes, then pop the chicken in and cook for 18 - 22 minutes.  So maximum cooking time is 32 minutes.  But instead of following the instructions, I mapped out the pathways to achieving my end in mind.  I know that as the oven is heating up to 430° F and as it is cooling down from 430° F, it has energy to cook (Step 2).

So I utilized that energy by putting the chicken in the oven from the time I turned it on, that is, thus avoiding preheating an empty oven.  Then, I set my timer to turn off the oven at 18 minutes.  But instead of pulling the chicken out, I kept it in the oven to finish the cooking, that is, with the diminishing but still useful energy.  I pulled the chicken out after 10 - 15 minutes, and lo and behold it was properly and deliciously cooked (Step 3).

The total cooking time was about the same as what the instructions indicated.  But courtesy of The Core Algorithm, I used only 18 minutes of oven time, instead of 32 minutes.  Which saved me about one third of the energy.

You will probably have to experiment with the timing, but if you're game, give it a try.