Cooking sets a sizzling pace for power supplies

Chinese dama (middle-aged housewives) can become the world's model energy savers if only they spend less time at the kitchen stove.

A survey has found that, on average, Chinese homes spend as much as 4.5 times the amount of energy on cooking meals as German or British homes, or about 2.5 times the amount used in French homes.

Preparing stir-fry dishes with high-temperature oil or boiling meat overnight uses far more energy than merely mixing salads and reheating packaged food in micro-waves, the survey by Beijing's Renmin University of China concluded.