Gas stoves leak climate-warming methane even when they're off

Sandy Khabbazeh made a pot of Syrian coffee on a stove in Oakland, New Jersey.

Carlo Allegri/Reuters

A new study warns that your natural gas cooking stove may leak methane even when it is turned off.

Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and it doesn't linger in the atmosphere as long.

Methane was measured from 53 California homes. They looked at how much methane is released when you turn the knob in the second. They measured how much unburned methane is released. They measured how much methane is released when the stove is not on.

It turned out that 80% of methane emissions from stoves happen from loose couplings and fittings between the stove and gas pipes.

One of the study's authors says that simply owning a natural gas stove and having natural gas pipes and fittings in your home leads to more emissions over 24 hours than the amount emitted while the burners are on.

Eric Lebel, the lead author of the study, says that there are very few measurements of incomplete combustion from appliances. Lebel is now a senior scientist.

It didn't matter if the stove was old or new, Lebel's research showed the presence of leaks was consistent. There were 18 brands of stove and Cooktops in the study, and they ranged in age from 3 to 30 years old. The electronic sparker leaked more when the stove was using a pilot light.

Researchers estimate that a small percentage of the gas used in a stove leaks into the atmosphere. It is a small climate impact compared to things like coal-fired power plants. If you add up the 40 million gas stoves in the U.S., the amount of leaked methane every year has the same climate change effect as the carbon dioxide from 500,000 gasoline-powered cars.

There's a battle over gas stoves in the push to rein in climate change

The U.S. has a goal of zeroing out emissions by the year 2050. Every emission source is coming under scrutiny as communities around the country already face climate change impacts from more severe storms.

The stove is special because Americans love cooking with gas, but the E.P.A. says buildings account for more than a tenth of the country's greenhouse gas emissions each year.

Climate activists are trying to convince people to switch to electric stoves in order to stop using natural gas in buildings. They believe that Americans will switch to bigger sources of emissions, such as the furnace, water heater and clothes dryer, once they switch to stoves.

The entire natural gas production and supply chain leaks climate-warming methane from start to finish, which is an argument for switch to electric.

Gas stoves emit pollution into your house, and are connected to a production and supply system that leaks the powerful greenhouse gas methane during drilling, fracking, processing and transport.

Meredith Miotke for NPR

The gas utility industry sees the campaign against gas stove as a threat. The American Gas Association is trying to find a way to use renewable natural gas from agriculture and hydrogen produced with renewable energy.

Laws are being passed to preserve the business of utilities. 20 states have laws that prevent cities from banning gas hook-ups in new buildings, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. In places like Seattle, Berkeley and New York, local governments are trying to meet their aggressive climate targets by banning certain things.

There's an easy way to limit methane leaks

Replacing a gas stove with an electric one is not an option for people who cannot afford it. Jackson says there is still something you can do.

He says to pull the stove out from the wall and tighten the connection to the stove. The leaks should be reduced by that.

Jackson believes that the only way to make sure there are no leaks is to switch to an electric stove. He says research has convinced him that it is time to do that.