Gas stoves are a threat to health and have larger climate impact than previously known, study shows

By Rachel Ramirez,

CNN Updated 2359 GMT January 27, 2022 (CNN)

The gas emitted from household stoves and ovens is not only dangerous to public health but also has a much more significant impact on the climate crisis than previously thought, new research shows.

The study, from scientists at Stanford University, found the emissions from gas stoves in US homes have the same climate-warming impact as that of half a million gasoline-powered cars -- far more than scientists have previously estimated.

"This new study confirms what environmental advocates have been saying for over a decade now, that there is no [such thing as] clean gas -- not for our homes, not for our communities and not for the climate," Lee Ziesche, community engagement coordinator for Sane Energy. Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a potent planet-warmer. It is around 80 times more powerful in the short term than carbon dioxide, scientists say.

The study also found that in homes without range hoods, or with poor ventilation, the concentration of harmful nitrogen oxides -- a byproduct of burning natural gas -- can reach or surpass a healthy limit within minutes, especially in homes with small kitchens.

Gas stoves and ovens leak significant amounts of planet-warming methane whether they are on or off. The study estimates stoves release 0.8% to 1.3% of their natural gas into the atmosphere as unburned methane. The concentration of those gases is "dependent on how big your kitchen is, what your ventilation is in your kitchen, all those things matter." Scientists say this invisible gas could seal our fate on climate change.

"Getting to net zero isn't a matter of replacing just the cars or just the power plants that burn fossil fuels with alternatives that don't," he added. "We need to look at everything that uses fossil fuels, even the sources as seemingly small as leaky gas pipes that power the stoves in our kitchens, and realize that all of add up to the eventual impact.

Natural gas has been hailed as a "bridge fuel" that would transition the US to renewable energy because it is more efficient than coal and emits less carbon dioxide when burned. But that plan, some experts say, underestimates the impact of it leaking, unburned, into the atmosphere and causing significant warming.

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