Gas Stove Methane Emissions Endanger People's Health

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, Rachel Ramirez reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: A gas stove flame

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, a non-profit climate justice group that was not involved in the research, told CNN.

"From the drilling well to the stoves in our kitchens, fracked gas is harming our health and warming the planet."

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 (NOx) -- 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.

That may not sound like much, but lead study author Eric Lebel told CNN it's a "really big number" when added to the amount of methane that is released during the production and transmission of the gas itself.

“If someone says they don't use their stove, and so they're not actually emitting any methane, well, that's actually not true because most of the stoves that we measured had at least a slow bleed of methane while they were off," said Lebel, who conducted the research as a graduate student at Stanford University and is now a senior scientist at PSE Healthy Energy.

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