0:00

Been lot of chatter lately about gas

0:02

stoves, namely that when you turn on your

0:04

gas stove, it emits pollution that

0:06

can affect the health of people in your home.

0:09

Yeah. Okay. I got it. But manufacturers

0:11

know how to make burners cleaner and

0:14

much more efficient. In fact, they've known how

0:16

for a long time. Problem

0:18

is, stows with those burners have

0:20

never been offered for sale, but that

0:23

may be about to change. Jeff

0:25

Brady from NPR's Climate Desk joins us

0:27

now. Hey, Jeff.

0:28

Hey, Elsa. Okay. So let me get this straight.

0:30

Manufacturers have known how to do this

0:32

for long time. So

0:35

for how long? And why did they originally

0:37

invest in developing cleaner burners?

0:40

It started about forty years ago.

0:42

A federal regulators were considering ban

0:45

on kerosene space heaters because

0:47

they put out a lot of air pollution into a room.

0:50

And gas cooking stovemakers and

0:52

gas utilities saw that and

0:54

worried the government might come for them next.

0:56

So they developed this thing called an infrared

0:59

burner. uses forty percent

1:02

less gas, emits forty percent less nitrogen

1:04

dioxide, and NO2 is

1:06

the pollutant that public health experts

1:08

worry about most when it comes to cooking

1:10

with gas. shows that

1:12

there is connection between having a gas stove

1:15

and childhood asthma as well as

1:17

other health

1:17

problems. And if you reduce the pollutants

1:19

from the burners, that likely would also

1:21

reduce the risk of illness.

1:23

Okay. So tell me more how are these efficient

1:25

or more efficient burners different exactly?

1:28

Well, instead of that familiar blue

1:30

flame, these infrared gas burners

1:32

look more like a traditional electric

1:34

burner. They glow red and

1:36

you can hardly even see that there's a flame

1:39

there. I showed this design to

1:41

brady seals at the Environmental Group

1:43

RMI And she said the fact

1:45

that manufacturers and utilities developed

1:47

a partial solution for the pollution

1:50

issue and didn't sell the burners

1:52

just underscores the need for

1:53

relation. You know, the time is long

1:56

overdue for mandatory performance

1:58

standards for gas stoves

2:00

so that we can make sure that they're

2:03

meeting a health protective

2:04

levels of pollutants inside our homes.

2:07

Appliance manufacturers say they're working

2:10

on voluntary standards to limit

2:12

nitrogen dioxide from gas

2:13

toves. Wait. So why don't

2:16

manufacturers make and sell these

2:18

cleaner burners in gas toves

2:19

already? Like, what what's the problem? One

2:22

reason is is that iconic blue

2:24

flame, it goes away on infrared burners,

2:26

and that's a big part of their marketing. It is.

2:29

Yes. A lot of utilities feature that blue

2:31

flame in their logo. Wow. And also,

2:33

these burners are more expensive and

2:35

they can be a little harder to clean. But

2:37

most importantly, consumers just haven't

2:39

demanded a cleaner Mhmm. But

2:41

that may be changing now that gas

2:43

stoves are in the news again. I talked

2:45

with Frank Johnson. He's at GTI

2:48

Energy. That's a gas industry research its

2:50

organization, and he says they're working

2:52

on new burner improvements now.

2:54

The design of cooking equipment has not

2:56

changed a lot over time.

2:58

But it's starting to change now and it's just gonna

3:00

take time for those to become available. And

3:03

for gas utilities, that stove is

3:05

key. It doesn't consume a lot of gas, but

3:07

it's considered kind of this gateway

3:08

appliance. People like cooking on them, and

3:10

if there's already a gas stove in a house, it's more

3:12

likely that consumers will burn gas

3:14

in their furnace their water heater or clothes

3:16

dryer? Exactly. Okay. Well, the reason

3:19

we're talking more about this now is because

3:21

of all the regulation issues that

3:23

have been discussed earlier this

3:24

month. In fact, somebody on the Consumer Product

3:27

Safety Commission was talking about banning

3:29

Gastautz. Is that a real possibility

3:31

thing? You know, it seems unlikely

3:33

to me, but the Commission is starting on March

3:35

first to look at the available science about

3:37

health and safety risks. Commissioner

3:39

Richard Trumka. He's the one you mentioned

3:41

about banning Gastaut. He said that in December,

3:44

and I'll just summarize what he said that

3:46

that these processes usually can

3:48

take a long time, but this one could happen

3:50

by this time next year. Howard Bauchner: That

3:52

is Empeers, Jeff Brady. Thank you, Jeff.

3:55

Thank you.