Gas stoves worse for climate due to tiny methane leaks: US study

Gas stoves contribute more to global warming than previously assumed due to persistent little methane leakage even when they are turned off, according to a recent study. In the same study that examined emissions surrounding stoves in houses, additional concerns regarding indoor air quality and health were raised because of the levels of nitrogen oxides measured.

Even when not in use, gas stoves in the United States emit 2.6 million tonnes (2.4 million metric tonnes) of methane into the atmosphere each year, as per the study published Thursday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology by a group of California academics. That’s the equivalent of 500,000 automobiles emitting greenhouse gases per year, or what the United States puts into the air every three-and-a-half hours.

‘They’re constantly bleeding a little bit of methane into the atmosphere all the time’, said the study’s co-author Rob Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist.

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According to the study, gas stoves produce 6.8 million tonnes (6.2 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the air while they are in use and the gas is consumed. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is dozens of times more potent than carbon dioxide, but it doesn’t last nearly as long in the atmosphere and isn’t as abundant.

The researchers examined 53 home kitchens in California. They covered the majority of the rooms in plastic tarps and measured emissions when the stoves were on and off. And, according to Jackson, three-quarters of the methane released occurred while the stoves were turned off. He stated that the government isn’t accounting for these emissions.

‘That’s a big deal because we’re trying to really reduce our carbon footprint and we claim that gas is cleaner than coal, which it is’, said study lead author Eric Lebel, a scientist at PSE Healthy Energy, an Oakland nonprofit.

Many towns, including New York City and the Bay Area cities of San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Berkeley, have prohibitions on gas stove usage in a new construction that will go into force in the coming years, Jackson said.

When all natural gas consumption and extraction are included, Jackson estimates that around 100 million tonnes (91 million metric tonnes) of gas escapes into the atmosphere. In addition, there are a couple of million tonnes of CO2 emitted by gas stoves is significant. ‘That’s a substantial part and it’s a part that we haven’t included accurately in the past’.