Why Are Builders Putting Gas Stoves in New Homes? Could It Be Fossil Fuel Subsidies?
There are loads of reasons that you should avoid buying new gas appliances which I will cover below, but first be aware that the Fossil lobbies are trying to hang on tooth and claw even though they know gas is bad for you & your loved one’s health.
Dozens of US gas utilities, serving more than 35 million customers, offer builders and contractors incentives to keep fossil fuels in buildings, the Guardian has found.
Washington state’s NW Natural offers builders $2,000 for each new single-family home they equip with gas appliances, while Texas’s Corpus Christi Gas offers $1,000. And in Minnesota, CenterPoint Energy participates in a program that offers paid vacations to builders who outfit homes with gas.
Meanwhile, gas utility trade groups are training members to sell builders on the continued use of the planet-heating fossil fuel, including through trainings at conferences and webinars. “Stress the lifestyle benefits that come with a natural gas home,” one instructor said in a recording of a training session heard by the Guardian.
More: Why Are Builders Putting Gas Stoves In New Homes? – Mother Jones
Put aside for a moment the fact that burning any fossil fuel is long term bad for the environment because of greenhouse gases, and pumping them out of somewhat secure storage underground is not ameliorated by burning them. Also put aside the fact that cooking with open flames leads to many house fires and deaths across our nation. (While some statistics show electric stove tops “cause 2.3 x more fires” according to NFPA, these stats do not count homes that catch fire or explode due to leaks associated with getting that gas to your stove, they only count the fires that start on the stove top.)
Burning gas in your home is bad for your health and your loved ones health. There are multitudes of peer reviewed scientific studies & reports like this one that prove that this is true. Cooking with natural gas robs oxygen from your indoor air to create the heat you cook with and lowering the oxygen levels in a room has known deleterious effects to human health.
Cooking with gas also produces poisonous byproducts that can be especially dangerous for children and the elderly, as well as anyone with breathing issues like asthma, COPD, Emphysema, allergies, etc. A short list includes
Methane
Radon
Particulates
Carbon Monoxide
Carbon Dioxide
Nitrous oxide
Aromatic hydrocarbons (aka carcinomic benzene ring compounds)
Gas stoves create 10-25 times the amount of aromatic hydrocarbons that electric induction cook surfaces do because those burning gas byproducts also interact with the vapors and particulates produced from the things your are cooking as you heat it. Some of that yummy smell when you sear steak is poisonous, and it’s more poisonous when you are searing with a gas stove.
While ventilation can help, most people do not vent to the outside, nor do they use charcoal in their filters, and many forget to even turn on that fan. Those who do vent outside and who remember to turn on that fan are merely passing their poisons to the neighborhood.
To sum up, people are dying from gas stove use every year while the fossil fuel industry works to keep builders installing at the same time they are keeping consumers unaware or doubtful of the dangers.
Disclaimer: I’m stuck with a gas stove I can’t afford to replace. I vent to the outside with a high cfm fan when I cook, but feel pretty guilty about sharing that with the neighbors and the neighborhood critters.