Cannot over emphasize enough, if something is bad for the environment, it’s also bad for your health.
A new study published in journal Environmental Science & Technology by a team of scientists from Stanford University concluded that gas stoves could emit as much greenhouse gas annually as half a million cars.
The emission of stoves mostly came from while they were off and leaked methane during this time, approximately 75%. This emission is both a hazard to the climate change and the environment, as well as indoor population on people’s health.
For this study, the researchers measured methane and nitrogen oxide emissions in 53 California homes during ignition, combustion, extinguishment, and while they were off. The study included 18 brands of gas stoves/cooktops ranging from 3 to 30 years old.
Overall, researchers found little difference between the brand and the age of the gas-dependent appliances.
The highest emitters were cooktops that uses a pilot light for ignition instead of a built-in electronic sparker. For these, the methane emissions from the puffs of gas emitted while igniting and extinguishing a burner were on average equal to the amount of unburned methane emitted during 10 minutes. In addition, because more than three-quarters of methane emissions occurred while stoves were off, gas fittings and connections to the stove and in-home gas lines are evidenced for most of the emissions.
The scientists estimated that natural gas stoves emit up to 1.3 percent of the gas they use as unburned methane, which if calculated, exceeds far beyond the total methane emissions currently reported by the EPA for all residential sources.
The researchers also found that larger stoves tend to emit higher rates of nitric oxides. From thir estimate of emissions of nitrogen oxides, people who don’t use their range hoods or who have poor ventilation can surpass the EPA’s guidelines for 1-hour exposure to nitrogen dioxide outdoors within a few minutes of useage. The EPA currently do not have standards for indoors (go figure).
Problem #1, over one-third of U.S. households, approximately 40 million homes, cook with gas. Unlike water heaters and other gas appliances, cooking appliances are not placed in rooms people rarely go into, rather they are in the living quarters that directly expose people to their emissions. In addition to methane and nitric oxides, gas stoves also emit formaldehyde and carbon monoxide that can trigger asthma and other air way reactions leading to shortness of breath and hospitalizations.
Problem #2, about 20 states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, and Texas, have made laws that prevents cities from banning gas appliances for healthier electric ones because their politicians are douchie, stupid assholes have enjoy being paid off by corrupt gas companies who don’t particularly care about their wallets over other people’s health just as much.
So if you’re in the market for a new stove/cooktop and you care about your health and your children’s, look into an electric one. They’re easier to clean anyways. In the mean time, use your vent hoods and crack a window as much as possible.
E Lebel et al. Methane and NOx emissions from natural gas stoves, cooktops, and ovens in residential homes. Environmental Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04707
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