For your information (and your next argument on the topic):
Meanwhile: Ventilate!
• Worried About Your Gas Stove? Here’s What to Do instead of panicking.
(Rachel Wharton, Wirecutter, NY Times, 1-24-23) You can usually eliminate most of the risks—even if your household includes kids with asthma—by getting more fresh air into your kitchen while you cook.
1) Turn on your range hood every single time you cook.
2) Open a window, add a fan.
3) Use countertop appliances, including a portable induction cooktop (Duxtop 9600LS).
4) Consider an air quality monitor that detects carbon dioxide (SAF Aranet 4 ("reliable CO2 monitoring"). Don't invest in an air purifier (they"aren’t designed to efficiently capture and remove gaseous pollutants like methane or nitrogen dioxide").
5) Consider switching to a radiant-electric or induction stove.
• Gas Stoves Are Tied to Health Concerns. Here’s How to Lower Your Risk. (Dani Blum, NY Times, 1-11-23) Emissions from gas stoves have been connected to an increased risk for childhood asthma, among other things. You can mitigate the effects with a few simple steps.
1) Ventilate, Ventilate, Ventilate!
2) Use the exhaust hood every time you use your stove.
3) Try to use the stove less often.
A study published last year found that families who use gas stoves in homes with poor ventilation, or without range hoods, can blow past the national standard for safe hourly outdoor exposure to nitrogen oxides within just a few minutes; there are no agreed upon standards for nitrogen oxides in indoor air.
• Is the Era of Gas Stoves Burning Out? (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, Opinion, Debatable, NY Times, 1-25-23) The main component of natural gas is methane, which many readers may know primarily as a potent greenhouse gas, responsible for about 30 percent of global warming since the Industrial Revolution. The combustion of methane also produces toxic nitrogen oxides, including nitrogen dioxide. Indoor air pollution is largely unregulated. Since at least the 1970s, researchers have been studying the negative health effects of gas stoves, which are the only major indoor gas appliance that isn’t required to be vented outside.
• The Best Air Purifier (Wirecutter, NY Times, 11-8-22) Their selection: Coway Airmega AP-1512HH(W) Warning: It's big!
• What to Know About the Risks of Gas Stoves and Appliances (Lisa Song, ProPublica, 1-23-22) Homeowners who can afford it should switch to an induction or electric stove. Or you could try an induction hot plate, which costs a lot less. The article also recommends improving ventilation, such as by opening a window, to lower health risks when cooking with gas.
• Gas stoves, freedom, and the politics of distraction (Doug Muder,The Weekly Sift, 1-30-23) Don’t worry about your Social Security, medical care, or bodily autonomy.Instead, focus your attention on gas stoves, light bulbs, X-boxes, M&Ms, and the Democrats’ quest to achieve “Soviet America”. This month’s shiniest object has been: Democrats are coming for your gas stove! Article is about what's really happening.
• Gas stoves became part of the culture war in less than a week. Here's why (Lisa Hagen and Jeff Brady, WBUR, 1-21-23) A growing body of research shows children and others with breathing problems such as asthma can experience short and even long-term health effects from gas cooking stoves. The issue has triggered a debate between people concerned about the health and climate impacts of gas — and those who fear the government is coming for their stoves. The "culture war," according to NPR, is playing out on television and social media.
• How Politics Are Determining What Stove You Use (Brad Plumer and Hiroko Tabuchi, NY Times, 12-16-21) New York is the latest Democratic city aiming to fight climate change by ushering out stoves and furnaces that run on gas in favor of electric alternatives. But Republican states and the gas industry are fighting back.
• Why Are Gas Stoves Under Fire? (Rebecca Leber, Science Friday, 1-20-23)
• 5 myths about gas stoves, the latest culture war clash (Rebecca Lever, Vox, 1-20-23) Myth 1: Biden — or federal regulators — want to take your gas stove away
Myth 2: Gas stove hazards are “newfound”
Myth 3: No type of cooking can compare to the gas stove
Myth 4: Most of America uses gas stoves
Myth 5: As long as you use ventilation, the risks don’t matter
• Gas stoves can harm your health — and scientists have known that for decades (Grid News, 1-17-23) You may need a subscription to read this.
• The New Soldiers in Propane’s Fight Against Climate Action: Television Stars (Hiroko Tabuchi, NY Times, 1-11-23) An industry group is spending millions of dollars to push back against efforts to move heating away from oil and gas.
• Ban Gas Stoves? Just the Idea Gets Some in Washington Boiling. (Elena Shao and Lisa Friedman, NY Times, 1-11-23) The nation’s top consumer watchdog agency raised concerns about indoor air pollution from gas stoves. A political firestorm ensued. A stream of Republican lawmakers attacked Mr. Trumka and the Biden administration on Twitter for even contemplating restrictions on gas stoves.
• Gas stoves and the problematic politics of sacrifice (Kelsey Piper, Vox, 1-25-23)To reach sustainable progress on climate and health issues, we need to focus on what’s easy — not what’s hard.
• Did I Turn Off the Stove? Yes, but Maybe Not the Gas (Raymond Zhong, NY Times, 1-27-22) New research finds that gas stoves emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, even when turned off and adds to the debate over electrifying homes.
• I Bought a CO2 Monitor, and It Broke Me Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 2-3-23) I thought I could fix the air quality in my apartment. I was wrong.
• N.Y.C.’s Gas Ban Takes Fight Against Climate Change to the Kitchen (Anne Barnard, NY Times, 12-15-21) New York will become the nation’s largest city to enact a ban on gas heat and stoves in new buildings. It’s a major step away from fossil fuels that is expected to influence wider markets.
• U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Bounced Back Sharply in 2021 (Brad Plumer, NYTimes, 1-10-22) Emissions rose 6 percent last year after a record 10 percent decline in 2020, fueled by a rise in coal power and truck traffic as the U.S. economy rebounded from the pandemic.
• Clean Air Act Requirements and History (EPA)
• Why Is Indoor Air Pollution Largely Unregulated? (Christian Roselund, RMI, 5-13-20) RMI is a green energy nonprofit (Decarbonizing Energy Systems) Much of the most serious air pollution that threatens our health comes not from giant power plants or freeways, but from inside our homes.
• Gas Stoves: Health and Air Quality Impacts and Solutions (Brady Seals, Andee Krasner, RMI, 2020) The charts tell a story.
Anything to add?