Campaigners turn the heat up on gas stoves

The United States is slowly moving away from the use of gas stoves but there are concerns that disadvantaged groups will be the last to move to a cleaner form of cooking.

In 2023, New York City passed a law banning gas-powered heaters, cooking stoves, and water boilers in all new builds yet, while the national average of homes with gas stoves is around 38%, in New York this figure stands at a substantial 62%.

In an attempt to galvanise the transition, a New York City community-based environmental group called WE ACT for Environmental Justice, set out to quantify the benefits of clean cooking.

The result of this was the first pilot of gas-to-electric stove transition in low-income housing. 

20 low-income households in a public housing building in the Bronx were recruited, half of them had their gas stove replaced with an induction stove, the others served as a control group.

From October 2021 to July 2022, three seven day long monitoring campaigns took place to measure NO2, CO, and PM2.5. The impact of cooking on indoor air quality was also evaluated during controlled cooking tests. 

It was found that there was a 56% reduction in average daily NO2 within the households using the induction stoves compared to the control group cooking with gas.

During the controlled tests NO2 concentration in gas homes rose to 197 ppb from a median background level of 18 ppb, while in the induction households, there was negligible change.

At subsequent focus groups, participants using the induction stoves were unanimously pleased with them,  none of them opting to switch back.

First author Misbath Daouda, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California Berkley said: ‘These results suggest that decarbonisation energy transitions can improve health by reducing indoor nitrogen dioxide while also addressing the holistic health ramifications of energy use in low-income populations.’ 

Senior author Darby Jack, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences said: ‘A green energy transition should prioritise electric stoves, which both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the health of vulnerable populations.’

Study co-author, Annie Carforo, MUP, Climate Justice Campaigns Manager, WE ACT said: ‘People of color and low-income individuals are more likely to live in smaller, older apartments that have poor ventilation, ineffective or broken range hoods and dated appliances that leak more gas. It is crucial for environmental justice that they are not left behind in this transition.’