Exposure pathways to the carcinogen benzene are well-established from tobacco smoke, oil and gas development, refining, gasoline pumping, and gasoline and diesel combustion. Combustion has also been linked to the formation of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde indoors from gas stoves. To our knowledge, however, no research has quantified the formation of benzene indoors from gas combustion by stoves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are over 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe presence of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) entrained in end-use natural gas (NG) is an understudied source of human health risks. We performed trace gas analyses on 185 unburned NG samples collected from 159 unique residential NG stoves across seven geographic regions in California. Our analyses commonly detected 12 HAPs with significant variability across region and gas utility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Technol
February 2022
Natural gas stoves in >40 million U.S. residences release methane (CH)─a potent greenhouse gas─through post-meter leaks and incomplete combustion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalifornia hosts ∼124,000 abandoned and plugged (AP) oil and gas wells, ∼38,000 idle wells, and ∼63,000 active wells, whose methane (CH) emissions remain largely unquantified at levels below ∼2 kg CH h. We sampled 121 wells using two methods: a rapid mobile plume integration method (detection ∼0.5 g CH h) and a more sensitive static flux chamber (detection ∼1 × 10 g CH h).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethane emissions from natural gas appliances remain the least characterized portion of the fossil-fuel supply chain. Here we examine water heaters from 64 northern California homes to (1) quantify methane emissions from natural gas leaks and incomplete combustion while off, turning on or off, and in steady-state operation from 35 homes; and (2) characterize daily usage patterns over ∼1-2 months per water heater to estimate activity factors from 46 homes. Individual tankless water heaters emitted 2390 [95% CI: 2250, 2540] g CH yr on average, 0.
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