A lot of us are experimenting with different ways of baking - driven by high energy prices or issues with a constant supply of electricity, as we have in South Africa.
So, I took a bread in banneton along to a family member who has recently purchased a Kenwood 25l "air fryer oven" which can operate as a convection oven as well, and uses only 1.7kW of electricity, so is more feasible to be powered by solar panels during the day.
The benefit to this little oven is that it claims to reach the 230°C after only 6 minutes - which is far faster than my oven which I give an hour! This is probably where the greatest electricity savings could be realized.
Still learning how to bake with this one - we did 30 minutes in a covered casserole on the bake setting at 230°C (446°F) - followed by another 20 minutes reduced to 200°C (392°F) uncovered. Even after 50 minutes the bread was still pale so we used the air-fryer setting to brown it for a further 10 minutes.
The resultant bread was lovely, the sesame smell really carried through the house that I don't normally get with a normal bake!
This was a lovely bread, even if the shape wasn't as good as it could be - didn't get an ear as it was still fairly slumpy on the bake setting - and the top had a darker strip in the middle, but I think with experience and using the air-fryer setting from the beginning it could be possible to consistently get a great loaf with less electricity usage.
In theory yes, but an air fryer's fan spins much faster and circulates the air so much more that it does give very different results from a convention oven. It seems to remove moisture easier (but only on the surface of what your cooking) so things caramelize and crisp up well.
The high speed convection fan also helps if using as a dehydrator.
I don't like the term air fryer. It can't actually fry and it you want things to almost taste like it was fried it needs to have a high smoke point oil sprayed on it.
I really want conventional ovens to have the highrpm fan modes of an air fryer as an option. Plus a steaming function.
I think it's a great way to save electricity.
I have a convection oven that even claims to have an "air fryer mode" it doesn't produce the same results as my air fryer. It just leaves the fan on all the time. The difference is as you say all about airflow and the convection oven just doesn't have the same fan speed or circulation.
It's also about where the heat element is. My convection oven does have an additional heat element where the fan is but it's supplementary unlike a dedicated air fryer where that's the only heat element.
My mother has a microwave that's a convection also. Same as you described. She's an incredible bread baker, and loves the smaller space for the circulation etc