Loaner Program Expands

Good news for clean energy fans: our Induction Cooktop Loan Program in Alameda County is expanding, with new round-bottom wok induction kits now available at Oakland Public Library, Main Branch as well as Fremont Library, Dublin Library, and the Berkeley Ecology Center. Plus, we added new pick-up sites at 81st Ave Library and the BNSN Resource Center, both in East Oakland! 

This program is a collaboration with the East Bay Community Energy (EBCE), the public clean power provider (aka Community Choice Aggregator) for Alameda County and the City of Tracy. If you live in East Bay Community Energy’s service area you can sign up to borrow an induction cooktop kit for free from any of our twelve pick-up sites. And keep an ear out for even more pick-up sites which will be coming soon in Oakland, Berkeley, and Hayward.

Since the program launched last summer, over 250 people have been able to borrow an induction cooktop for three weeks, along with a compatible pan, instructions, and recipes, and discover the benefits of the technology for themselves. Over 70% of borrowers reported that using the induction cooktop increased their opinion of induction cooking, saying things like “I am surprised at how much I have enjoyed using this cooktop. It is my first choice now whenever I cook anything,” and “We put in an order for an induction stove after the first day using it.”

The program offers two kinds of kits, with different kinds of cooktops. The flat or standard kits are available at every pick-up location, and contain a Winco or Waring plug-in induction cooktop with a flat surface. The wok kits, available only at some of the pick-up locations, contain a special cooktop from NuWave that has a curved surface for a round-bottomed wok. Both kits come with a compatible pan and lid, as well as an envelope of materials provided by EBCE for you to keep, including cooktop instructions, magnets for testing pans, and three delicious recipe cards. If you’d like a little more information about what cooking with these kits is like, feel free to watch the instructional video for the flat kits here and the wok kits here.

Background on Induction Cooktops

There are many reasons why customers are excited about induction cooktops.

• Great heat control and precision.

• No open flame. No heat transfer takes place unless there’s ferrous (iron-containing) cookware on the surface. Auto-off safety setting that turns off the stove when you remove the cookware. 

• Cleaner indoor air, compared to gas cooktops. Besides running on clean, renewable electricity (depending on your community’s electricity provider), induction eliminates indoor combustion emissions, leading to healthier indoor air quality. This reduces the chance of heart and lung diseases. (You can learn more about the health impacts of gas stoves here.)

• Easy-to-clean surface. Just one swipe with a sponge does the trick.

Cooking Class

Chef-in-Residence Kelvin Briggs leads this virtual series hosted by Acterra. Twice a month you can cook alongside Chef Kelvin in your kitchen. The cooking series dives into plant-forward recipes and cultural cuisines while navigating the kitchen with ease through induction cooking. You can sign up for the upcoming cooking class at acterra.org/induction — the menu for this class will be Cheesy Vegan Spinach Pesto Grilled Cheese. For example, join us April 20 starting at 6:30 pm PT. After you register you will receive an ingredient list so you can have them on hand before class begins. And if you don’t have access to induction, you’re welcome to cook along on any kind of stove, or just tune in to watch the Chef at work!

Loaner Program Details

The loan is free – you don’t need anything but an address in the EBCE service territory. To pick up the kit, you’ll need to sign an agreement requiring you to treat the kit carefully, return it clean and on time, and be responsible for any significant damage or loss of the cooktop. You can use the cooktop for as much cooking as you like, and you can use any pan – the pan we provide, or induction-compatible pans (like cast iron or stainless steel) that you already own. The loan is three weeks long, so you’ll have plenty of time to try it out!

You don’t need to have a library card to be able to retrieve a loaner kit from a library pick-up location.