'It's nuts': Gas stovetop emissions higher than we thought, causing health and climate risks
Leaking methane from natural gas-burning stove tops is releasing the greenhouse-gas equivalent of hundreds of thousands of cars, and cooking on gas stovetops is posing a risk to health, according to new research.Nitrous oxides, fine particulate matter released during cooking pose a respiratory risk, especially to children
"COVID-willing, we hope to sample in Australia over the next year or two, probably in 2023," said study co-author, Professor Robert Jackson from Stanford University. Previous studies have found methane emissions from gas stovetops to be lower than this one, but they only measured emissions when the stoves were on, Professor Jackson said.According to today's results, gas leaks from stovetop cookers in 40 million homes in the US produced about 28,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year, or the equivalent of the emissions from around 500,000 petrol cars.
"It's the most vulnerable that are being hit hardest — the young, the elderly, the asthmatic," Dr Charlesworth said.