Your humble stove might be emitting methane even when it’s turned off
Your kitchen stove could be a source of greenhouse gas emissions—even when it’s turned off. A new study of gas ranges found that stoves running on natural gas will leak large quantities of methane into the atmosphere even when they’re not in use, NPR reports. It may not even matter whether your stove is brand-new or if it’s decades old, researchers found in their survey of stoves in more than 50 California homes. When the burners are off, methane is still getting released, often through gaps in home piping. And that doesn’t include the methane that leaks out from natural gas pipeline infrastructure before it arrives at your apartment or house. People might shrug off their individual emissions, but combined at a national level, the leakage is stark in size: Researchers estimated that it’s equivalent to emissions from half a million gas-powered cars. —Jessica Fu
