Gas stove

2022 - 6 - 28

Post cover — Image courtesy of "MarketWatch"

Another reason to swap your gas stove? Study finds cancer-causing ... (MarketWatch)

Harvard study finds the natural gas that lights gas stoves for home and professional cooks contains low concentrations of several chemicals linked to ...

They stress that natural gas has been a low-cost alternative to dirtier coal and could play a role in the energy transition. And now at least 42 cities in California, including San Francisco and San Jose, have acted to limit gas in new buildings. That measure is significant not only because of the city’s population size, but also because of its colder climate. The ban will apply to new structures under seven stories tall starting in 2024, and to larger buildings in 2027. The highest emitters were cooktops that ignited using a pilot light instead of a built-in electronic sparker. Salt Lake City and Denver have also made plans to move toward electrification. Berkeley, Calif., became the first city in the U.S. to ban gas hookups in new construction in 2019. More study on the public health impacts is needed, they added. Fossil-fuel combustion for energy accounts for about 74% of total Earth-warming U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, the Energy Information Agency says. It excludes, for instance, benzene, the study authors stressed. Unlike other gas appliances, such as water heaters that are usually placed away from active living spaces, cooking appliances directly expose people to their emissions. They turned up several “air toxics,” which is an Environmental Protection Agency classification of hazardous pollutants, including benzene.

New Study Finds Gas Stoves Release Toxic Chemicals — Even ... (Fatherly)

Gas stoves release carcinogens and other harmful chemicals, even when they're turned off, according to a new study.

“This study shows that gas appliances like stoves and ovens can be a source of hazardous chemicals in our homes even when we’re not using them. The researchers found that natural gas contains a number of air toxics — a special EPA categorization for chemicals known to cause cancer and other serious health problems. A new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology explains that it’s not just natural gas that comes out of your burner, but known carcinogens and other toxic chemicals too.

Natural Gas In Your Home Is Laced With Toxic Chemicals, New ... (IFLScience)

While low in concentration, at least 21 hazardous chemical compounds were found in household natural gas, some of which are linked to cancer.

In some of the samples, the researchers say they found levels of odorants that would be hard to smell in a small leak. They also noted how levels of the harmful chemicals tend to vary by area and time of the year, with levels being highest in the colder winter months. One of the most worrying chemicals found in domestic gas was benzene.

Study shows gas stoves could be leaking toxic chemicals (CBS News)

Researchers say some stoves are leaking unburned gas at low levels that could be toxic when released into the air.

It causes leukemia." "Benzene is a known carcinogen. BOSTON – A new study led by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows natural gas stoves could be leaking low levels of toxic chemicals into the air.

Natural Gas Samples Taken from Boston-Area Homes Contained ... (InsideClimate News)

In January, researchers at Stanford reported that methane leaks from residential gas stoves were far greater than previously thought and had a 20-year climate ...

This may suggest that regulators need to increase odorant levels in order to find leaks that currently go undetected, the study concluded. In Boston, the concentrations of hazardous compounds peaked in the winter and were eight-times higher than the concentrations in the summer. As a greenhouse gas, methane is the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide and reached record levels in the atmosphere last year. Companies currently publish information of the large components in their gas, like hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur. Natural gas sources may also change through the season, and different wells may naturally have higher concentrations of benzene. “Cooking over natural gas flame is the most intimate connection with climate change that we never think about,” said Michanowicz. Ongoing studies are looking at how much of each toxic compound in natural gas used at the Boston-area homes their owners are actually exposed to and whether those amounts pose a significant health risk. The researchers said this is the first step in determining what the health risks are for gas consumers, both during stove use and when there are natural gas leaks inside a home. People working in commercial kitchens, for example, might have greater risk of exposure to hazardous compounds in the gas. Of the 234 samples collected from 69 homes, 95 percent had low levels of benzene, which is linked to anemia, decreased immune function and cancer. The study comes as some cities and states move to ban gas-fired appliances in new construction in favor of electric appliances. But, when burned, methane produces less carbon dioxide than burning coal, leading to its promotion as a “bridge fuel” in the energy transition.

Unburned natural gas contains 21 toxic air pollutants, study finds ... (WBUR)

A new study examining the chemical content of natural gas in homes across the Greater Boston region finds evidence of at least 21 air toxics.

This study comes amid heightened conversation in Massachusetts — and across the country — about the future of natural gas. “It's the potential for it leaking in a closed environment that begins to raise the question of health impact,” Magavi says. (Though samples were only collected in the Greater Boston area, researchers say we can probably conclude that the findings would be similar in all homes and buildings connected to the same big gas pipelines in the northeast.) And we know from recent studies looking at natural gas appliances that they're leaking in homes,” says Dr. Curtis Nordgaard, a physician and one of the study’s authors. Scientists are testing natural gas in homes across California and in about a half-dozen other cities throughout the country. This study was meant to be the first step of figuring that out. The authors aren’t sure why, but gas delivered to peoples’ homes in the wintertime had more harmful pollutants than summertime gas. “There is a real question that we have to pursue about what does this mean for health?” Over the course of 16 months, they tested natural gas in 69 homes across the Greater Boston region. Researchers sampled natural gas from homes across the Greater Boston area and found 21 toxic air pollutants known to cause cancer and other health problems. Of the 21 air toxics found, the most concerning was benzene, which can cause cancer, blood disorders and other health problems. We are really looking for other ways by which natural gas leaks are also directly impacting health.”