Nitrogen dioxide exposure due to gas and propane combustion by U.S. stoves

"Popularity" isn't the right word. Most kitchens have the energy source for the stove locked in a time of construction,, and it would be non-trivial remodeling job to change it. It's not like people go out shopping for gas vs. electric stoves every five years, like they do for different cars.

Having used a plethora of stoves over my life, I can absolutely say I am convinced gas stoves are on their way out. I have not seen anything that an induction stove cannot do as well as a gas one. Even commercial establishments are switching to it. Will there be changes in how to use if effectively? Of course. That's to be expected. I can't see how the liability of an open flame won't outweigh changing.

I enjoy cooking on one now that I am used to how fast it heats up.

The thing I like most are the levels of safety from the toddler- there’s a “lock” feature on the control panel that disables the controls. And if I forget that and he turns it on, nothing happens unless I also left something ferromagnetic on the cooktop. I haven’t tested yet what would happen with my keys or a fork but it could be good to know.

I live in a coastal region that has hurricanes, ice storms and tornadoes. Gas stoves work during these storms, electric stoves often don't.

If you force me to use an electric stove then I will buy a wood-fired stove and use it. I will burn the (free) wood from trees downed by the storms and the (free) wood from homes downed by tornadoes. You will eat my pine resin smoke the remaining days of your life and I will give you my stove when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

At least in the UK, almost all the induction hobs on the market have touch controls. Not having a knob per ring is a massive issue for some users.

The vast majority of people have never experienced an induction range. They would also need to buy new cookware, and/or install a high voltage electric line to their kitchen (could easily be a $1k expense).

On top of this, gas is cheaper than electricity, and gas ranges are cheaper than induction ranges.

For most day to day tasks in a home kitchen modern induction is fine.

I would like an induction range, and a pair of professional gas burners next to them.

Below folks are talking about charing peppers and wok cooking. Candidly these are two places where a gas range stands out. A flat bottom wok sucks, and I have torches but not one that is as complete burning as a range. From smores, to toasting tortillas to power outages gas some advantages!

While im doing the planing I have been wondering if I could get a 220 outlet and a UK plug for a proper kitchen kettle. What other counter top appliances would benefit from extra power?

I also want to keep the high flow gas line for outdoor grill/griddle combo because never having to buy propane again sounds like an upgrade.

1. If a home already has a gas stove it would take some money to get it disconnected/removed and then you need to spend money to buy a new induction stove. 2. Per kWth gas is significantly cheaper (on average) so gas stove likely cheaper to run despite lower efficiency. 3. Cheap induction stoves have at least these flaws: touch controls (which go mad when water is spilled), pulsing power control - on low level it looks like 1 sec boiling every 5 seconds instead of simmering.

I recently bough a counter-top induction hob and the cheapest option with physical controls I could find was 5x more expensive than one I've bought (which doesn't make me hate touch controls less).

Induction burners have thermostats! You can set one to a specific temperature and it will hold it. So much more precise than "medium low heat" for a gas stove.

California has the second highest electricity prices in the US. I’m paying $0.42/kWh and up to $0.53/kWh. Paying for more electricity is non-negotiable.

Price is coming down, but still much higher than standard electric. Standard electric being somewhere between annoying (open coil) and infuriating (glass top) to cook on when compared to even very inexpensive gas ranges.

So most folks moving into a place with "contractor-grade" appliances already installed are going to experience a very functional gas range or a barely usable electric.

Most folks don't replace appliances just for the hell of it.

Maybe. Probably. The article is a bit mixed on range hoods and doesn’t look at high CFM ones specifically, but it stands to reason it would help.

“ We found that an outside-venting range hood reduced peak NO2 concentrations in some cases (Fig. 3B) but that some outside-venting range hoods are ineffective at reducing NO2 concentrations (Fig. 3C). Across a subset of five randomly selected homes, we found that outside-venting hoods reduced hour-averaged kitchen NO2 concentrations by between 10 and 70% (mean reduction in concentration = 35%, n = 5; fig. S15). This result is consistent with prior work assessing the efficacy of installed range hoods, which found that most hoods operating in homes have capture efficiencies well below 70%”

Addresses typical range hoods, not necessarily high CFM quality ones.

“ people with a 75% capture efficiency outside-venting hood who use it every time they cook are exposed to 70% less long-term stove-attributable NO2 than average. The effect on long-term stove-attributable NO2 of opening and closing windows (one window modeled in the kitchen and at least three additional windows, opened or closed all at once; see Materials and Methods) was comparable to the average benefit of using a range hood (Fig. 5).”

Implies higher quality (capture >75%) range hoods help significantly but so does opening a window.

Yes, it probably helps, especially if you crack a window. The article claims 3000 sq ft dwellings do better than 800 sq ft dwellings -- this will be entirely due to the concentration of the gases. A hood that expels interior air and draws in outside air can't hurt.

I cook on a wood stove and heat the house with wood. The only time the stove emits anything into the house is when I light it and the chimney is cold - which doesn't happen that often but can happen if I have not used the thing for more than a day or 2. I built that chimney myself, it is solid brick and does not use vermiculite-insulated liners - i.e. it is built according to the 'old' standards where the chimney itself functions as a heat buffer for the top floor (which is why I built it that way). Given a warm chimney there is more than enough drag to keep combustion products from escaping even when I lift the pan off the fire.

It also helps that the stove and its neighbouring electric companion (which I use as a storage area for pans) is built under a large fume hood which ends in a flue pipe in that same chimney. The warmer the chimney, the more drag in the fume hood. There is no fan and none is needed given a warm chimney.

Of course all this only works if there is enough ventilation into the house since both the stove as well as the fume hood need incoming air to work. This is not a problem in our 17th century farm house, even with all the windows closed there is enough air coming in to keep all fires burning. As long as I keep the chimney and the stoves clean - I sweep it once or twice per year depending on the type of wood I burn - they do their job without fouling up the house.

Wood burning generates a lot more particulates in the air than burning gas. So likely much worse

There is a strange lack of journalistic curiosity about the funding source behind this study and similar ones that have been making headlines over the last couple of years.

HT LLC is the High Tide Foundation. They're an advocacy group focused on climate change. You might recall a similar study in the headlines a year or so ago. That one focused on gas stoves and benzene, instead of NO2. It was from the same research group and likewise was funded by the High Tide Foundation.

https://www.hightidefoundation.org