Climate and health benefits of a transition from gas to electric cooking

Abstract

Household electrification is thought to be an important part of a carbon-neutral future and could also have additional benefits to adopting households such as improved air quality. However, the effectiveness of specific electrification policies in reducing total emissions and boosting household livelihoods remains a crucial open question in both developed and developing countries. We investigated a transition of more than 750,000 households from gas to electric cookstoves—one of the most popular residential electrification strategies—in Ecuador following a program that promoted induction stoves and assessed its impacts on electricity consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and health. We estimate that the program resulted in a 5% increase in total residential electricity consumption between 2015 and 2021. By offsetting a commensurate amount of cooking gas combustion, we find that the program likely reduced national greenhouse gas emissions, thanks in part to the country’s electricity grid being 80% hydropower in later parts of the time period. Increased induction stove uptake was also associated with declines in all-cause and respiratory-related hospitalizations nationwide. These findings suggest that, when the electricity grid is largely powered by renewables, gas-to-induction cooking transitions represent a promising way of amplifying the health and climate cobenefits of net-carbon-zero policies.

Nitrogen dioxide exposure, health outcomes, and associated demographic disparities due to gas and propane combustion by U.S. stoves

“…Gas stoves are common globally and in U.S. homes. Emissions from gas and propane stove combustion degrade indoor air quality ( 3 , 10 , 40 , 56 , 57 ) and are associated with adverse health outcomes that include pediatric asthma and hospitalizations ( 23 – 25 , 52 , 58 , 59 ). We report updated field estimates of NO 2 emission rates for gas stoves and previously unreported emission rates of NO 2 from propane stoves.…”

Long-Term Monitoring of Indoor CO Levels in Disproportionately Impacted Communities in the North Denver Metropolitan Area

“…Vanker et al found an association between fossil fuel use and degraded indoor air quality in homes, specifically higher levels of CO and benzene [22]. Nowadays, even though there has been a push towards electrification in homes to reduce exposure to carbon fuel-burning emissions and decrease the residential carbon footprint, often people are reluctant to upgrade their gas appliances to electric due to personal preferences, cost, and time constraints [23,24]. Increasing awareness of the potential for persistent low levels of CO in homes with a gas appliance could become an effective tool to raise awareness of the need for electrification of commonly used indoor appliances and to encourage society to adopt this change.…”