New research: natural gas appliances emit much more methane than realized

Probably more so than average where I live (Baltimore), since a lot of the housing here is row homes instead of detached.

Just tangentially we've had a couple big gas explosions in the last half decade, too.

We'll have a hood regardless of fuel source. Enough stuff comes off the top as a direct result of cooking, that I'd rather not breathe.

Retail prices do also seem to be somewhat more expensive at similar feature/"trim" levels, too. Unless that's changed since the last time I was thinking about this (maybe a year ago).

Also, I've never met a flat-top stove that wasn't a terror to keep clean. Maybe induction's different, but that's another worry.

My mid range portable and expensive built in both do this. I get they want to let you know you've nudge a pan out of effect, but give me three seconds! That's all I want, three seconds before you fire the most annoying piezo buzzer on the planet.

You'll have to quote it, since I don't see that in the peer reviewed research. Here's the entirety of mentions of hoods that I found:

> In fact, some kitchens have “ductless” hoods that recirculate fumes through activated charcoal filters, which are generally less effective at cleaning the air.

Where I am, it's illegal to have a gas stove without ducted vents since activated carbon filters won't prevent death from carbon monoxide. As mentioned, I have a ducted fan.

> Vented hoods have a range of effectiveness and function best when overhanging the stove. (12,13)

As mentioned, this is my experience, too. The average hood has abysmal CFM. If you've ever bought a range hood, you'll see know that the higher CFM come at nearly triple the cost, with fancy buttons and grills. There's no way to purchase a cheap AND high CFM vent from a common retailer. I think most people don't go for these high end fans. A duct fan that sucks 5x of a high end fan is probably on the "effective" side of things.

> Because exhaust hoods are separate from the stove and must be operated manually, vented hoods in practice are used only 25–40% of the time.

> Previous modeling-based approaches suggest that residents are exposed to NO2 levels above outdoor acute (1 h) exposure guidelines 62% of the time while using their stove but not using their range hoods, (36) and people use their range hoods only 28–36% of the time. (15)

This is why I suggested it should be automated, otherwise it's forgotten sometimes. Mine turns on with about 1 second of the oven turning on, and stays on for a few minutes after it shuts off. I think this is very important, and I would worry without this.

Perhaps one of the citations in that paper say they're not effective, but it's only suggested that they can be ineffective.

We know range hoods can work since they're used for noxious gases in basically every chemistry lab in the world. So, it's a bit silly to claim they can't work (there are standards to measure effectiveness). I think it's safe to claim that the average range hood is insufficient, but I don't think it's safe to claim that all are insufficient. :)

Regardless, the purpose of my comment was to show that steps can be taken to minimize risk and worry. I think the steps I've taken, according to the peer-reviewed research, do just that.

Well, we can think about why, and try to to minimize risk.

If it's unused, and they didn't control for diet, then it could be that they're eating processed foods. I would be extremely interested in seeing the diet of a family that didn't use a range/oven, and the relative amount of phthalates and the like.

Assuming they are getting good quality food, then an old stove will always have a pilot light on, even if it's unused. I think it would be hard to ventilate the emissions from a pilot light, since most ducted vents have flaps that only open when a fan is on. But...

If it's a modern stove, then an unused gas stove is the same as not having a gas stove at all, since there's no pilot light, unless you have a gas leak.

In my case, I have a modern stove, and no gas leak (it was tested), so I think my situation is probably different than whatever study you have in mind, assuming everything is properly ventilated while it's on.

There are more carbon emissions from electric appliances over gas appliances because of the losses (entropy, etc) at each step.

Of course, thats truly only correct for a resistive load (but, without knowing much about induction stoves, its probably within 10% - modern power electronics are amazing)

[1] Root Mean Square. Basically the measure needed to make a simply multiplication give you the power. Other ways to measure line voltage are

Amplitude. This would be the A in V(t) = Asin(wt). A = sqrt(Vrms)

Peak to peak. This is 2xA.

They’re all useful ways to thinking of the same thing. If you’re designing insulation you’re designing for A, or peak to peak. If you’re designing a water kettle, you’re interested in Vrms.

Both ovens we have (the older and the newer ones) are hidden element, isolated units which spend most of their time off after reaching to the desired temperature, and they're not burning through energy all the time.

And the ceramic coating inside them are self cleaning with the cooking heat too.

You can't guarantee renewables everywhere, can you?

In order to actually change the world, we need to spend all our efforts stopping the biggest polluters such as chinese industry and fossil fuels. Worrying about smaller problems such as methane or cryptocurrency is a waste of time at best and a malicious distraction at worst.