

As a European those power draws listed sound absolutely absurd to me
Let me clarify - those are standard sized circuits, not actual draw. However the service has to be sized to handle it, and over-provisioning to account for it.a customer might install a stove that draws the full load and might use all the burners at once, and you have to account for typical usage patterns.
For sure it’s a well earned stereotype that Americans use more electricity than many other places. We tend to have bigger houses, more and bigger appliances. We not only don’t have that base charge per size of service but too some extent are charged less to use more: essentially we subsidize people electric resistive heat, who can pay a lower usage rate. We also don’t usually have time of use metering, although some do: my rate is the same whether I charge my car at night or at peak time. And of course our current leadership is intent on rolling back the efficiency standards we have.
Taking your heat pump dryer example, those are finally available here but tend to cost a lot more than a traditional dryer: savings on efficiency will never make back the extra purchase cost More importantly they’ve only been available in small sizes, not typical for houses, especially with families
Yeah that’s my main culinary goal for this year. Eat beans. And lentils. Cook them. Bulk them. Spice them. Try different styles. They’ve never really been a significant part of my diet and I want to change that.
A big part of that goal is to have better choices when I’m not motivated to cook. Many bean/lentil dishes seem well suited for bulk prep and make good leftovers. I just need to get started.