Natural gas has a key role to play in helping the United States to reduce emissions and improve air quality – both indoors and outdoors.
As the world looks for solutions to tackle climate change, most attention has focused on outdoor air emissions, where the United States has excelled thanks in large part to the abundance of natural gas being produced from shale. Since natural gas first became the leading source of U.S. electricity generation in April 2015, it has helped the United States to see significant emissions reductions, as International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol recently said:
“In the last 10 years, the emissions reductions in the United States has been the largest in the history of energy.”
Similarly, natural gas is also an important fuel source for improving indoor air quality – a message that often seems to be overlooked in high-profile pushes for greater electrification and a halt to natural gas hook-ups in homes and businesses.
Natural Gas Stoves Do More Than Make Food Taste Better
There are some key reasons that 179 million Americans use natural gas in their homes, including for their everyday cooking – it’s reliable, heats up quickly and has unique temperature control capabilities. For some restaurants, it could even mean the difference for actually being able to include a specialty item on a menu, as the California Restaurant’s Association recently explained in its comments opposing a natural gas hook-up ban in Berkeley:
“Restaurants specializing in international foods so prized in the Bay Area will be unable to prepare many of their specialties without natural gas. Many of these restaurants rely on gas for cooking particular types of food, whether it be flame-seared meats, charred vegetables, or the use of intense heat from a flame under a wok.”
Importantly, these benefits don’t come at the expense of indoor air quality. A key argument by those seeking to stop the use of natural gas as a cooking fuel is that natural gas stoves release harmful emissions. The reality is that studies show the act of cooking itself – not the type of stove being used – is primarily responsible for the creation of emissions. As a group of U.K. and Saudi university researchers explain:
“The processes used in cooking such as frying, roasting, grilling, boiling and broiling contribute to pollutant emissions…”
That’s why venting, regardless of whether a household uses a gas or electric stove, is essential for removing harmful aerosols from the environment.
Federal agencies have also studied the impacts of potential emissions from using natural gas for cooking. As an American Gas Association’s fact sheet explains:
It also can’t be ignored that the use of natural gas for cooking has helped improve indoor air quality worldwide, particularly in communities that have traditionally used wood or biomass, according the World Health Organization.
Increased Gas Distribution Increases Indoor Air Quality
Proposed bans on new or existing natural gas infrastructure for homes and businesses aren’t only targeting appliances – they’re attacking heating sources too. While many Americans may not be cooking inside with wood or dung, some still rely on wood and higher emitting fuels to heat homes in winter. Pembroke Township near Chicago is one such community, as are countless rural households across the country where distribution lines are not yet available.
As the World Health Organization reports, the fuels available to these communities are often inefficient and produce high-levels of indoor house pollutants which accompany a range of negative health benefits. With increased access to natural gas through the development of pipelines, exposure to indoor air pollutants from burning solid fuels is drastically decreased.
Natural gas is a proven source of energy to help reduce overall air emissions, increase energy efficiency, at a more affordable price. It is safe to use for a range of household appliances and rural populations in the United States would benefit from this fuel being more available.
