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PhD Defense

ESS Oral Defense: Yannai Kashtan "Cooking With Consequences: Gas and Propane Stove Emission Rates, Exposure, and Health Outcomes"

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Stanford University

*** Ph.D. Thesis/ Oral Defense ***

Cooking With Consequences:  Gas and Propane Stove Emission Rates, Exposure, and Health Outcomes

Yannai Kashtan

Wednesday, June 5, 10:00am

Green Earth Sciences 365

Department of Earth System Science

Advisor: Dr. Rob Jackson

 

Natural gas stoves emit multiple health-damaging air pollutants including nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), formaldehyde (H2CO), and ultrafine particles, as well as the greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide (CO) and methane (CH4). This dissertation seeks to improve our understanding of how residential gas and propane stoves impact indoor air quality and human health. 

Chapter 1 reports the first estimate of the emission rate of benzene, a known human carcinogen, from gas and propane combustion in stoves. We find that benzene emissions from gas and propane stoves are 10 to 25 times higher than emissions from electric coil and induction stoves. 

Chapter 2 combines a multi-zone indoor air quality model with epidemiological risk parameters and a statistical sampling of published housing characteristics and occupant behavior to produce the first nationwide estimate of NOexposure attributable to gas and propane stoves as a function of income, race, and of various behavioral parameters including ventilation and gas use. We find that gas stoves are responsible for approximately 4.0 ppbv of long-term NOexposure, 75% of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s long-term exposure guideline. 

Chapter 3 expands this model to include infiltration of outdoor NO2 indoors and incorporates detailed building stock data from the U.S. Census beyond that used in Chapter 2 to produce the first nationwide estimate of total NOexposure on the ZIP code scale. We find that gas and propane stoves accounting for approximately one-third of exposure among the general population and two-thirds for primary home cooks. 

This dissertation demonstrates that gas stoves are major sources of indoor air pollution and highlights the importance of indoor air pollution in the public’s overall exposure.

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