Making the switch

“Cooking on a gas stove unleashes some of the same fumes found in car exhaust”, reports The Atlantic, detailing that an atmospheric chemist’s child’s asthma cleared up “almost overnight” with the shift from an all gas to an all electric home. The Atlantic also noted that the RMI report stated that homes with gas stoves have concentration of Nitrous Oxide (NO2) 50%-400% higher than all electric homes. NO2 is associated with wheeze, and higher levels of asthma. A Columbia University study found that switching to induction cooking reduced NO2 levels by 50%.

Other pollutants include NO, carcinogens formaldehyde and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and carbon monoxide. Gas heaters are associated with an increase in acute respiratory infections.

An epidemiological meta-analysis found that “children living in a home with gas cooking have a 42% increased risk of having current asthma, a 24% increased risk of lifetime asthma”, with wheeze being associated with increased NO2.

The Climate Council reporting on an environmental health study on gas stoves states “more than half of occupants with were routinely exposed to harmful levels of NO2 and formaldehyde” if used with poor ventilation, and cites two other US studies to conclude “indoor NO2 pollution from gas stoves often reaches levels that would be illegal outside.” NO2 exposure is significantly associated with childhood asthma.

“Gas cooking and heating” is also associated with “accelerated lung function decline” in middle age, according to an ongoing longitudinal Australian study.

Vanessa Robinson bravely tells the story of the impact of a faulty gas heater on her family in this Climate Council report (pp. 31-32).

Carbon monoxide binds with haemoglobin, preventing the red blood cells from carrying oxygen. At high concentrations death can occur in as little as several minutes. Unflued gas heaters are still used in many schools, particularly in NSW, and are associated with increased respiratory health impacts including asthma. Do not use gas heaters in children’s bedrooms or leave gas heaters on overnight. Long term, low level CO exposure is associated with neurological impacts – gas heaters should be regularly maintained by a licenced gas-fitter every two years.

Switching to electric appliances protects against short term as well as long term carbon monoxide risk.

A California study showed that gas cooking was “typically used” without rangehoods, and that in this case over half of occupants would be “routinely exposed to NO₂ [and] HCHO [formaldehyde] levels that exceed acute health-based standards”, in other words, worse than legally enforceable EPA standards for outdoor pollution. One problem is that effective rangehoods are very loud, and are often not turned on.

A article on the RMI review states that “elevated NO2 levels have also been linked to other conditions such as cardiovascular problems, diabetes, cancer, reproductive issues and brain development in children.”  Fine particle pollutants (PM2.5) is also associated with gas cooking. PM2.5 is associated with increased “all-cause and cardiovascular mortality”, and PM particles “play a significant role in cardiovascular disease”…where PM2.5 is associated with fuel combustion.

A study by UCLA Fielding School of Public Health states replacing all gas appliances with clean energy appliances in California would save “approximately $3.5 billion in monetized health benefits for just one year.”. Most of this saving would come from “the reduction of secondary nitrate fine particulate matter (PM2.5) [from nitrogen oxides (NOX)] and primary PM2.5”.