Health

Electrified homes are healthier homes

Gas appliances are commonplace in many homes for space and water heating, laundry drying, and cooking. However, studies have shown that exposure to the air pollutants they produce pose significant health risks, especially for gas stoves which we have the greatest exposure to. An all-electric home eliminates these risks and can provide a safer and healthier living environment for you and your family.

Solutions for Healthier Indoor Air

Healthy indoor air, free of harmful pollutants, should be commonplace for everyone. If you have gas appliances, there are still many ways to reduce exposure to air pollutants in your home

Ensure appliances are vented properly

Ventilation, when used correctly, can move some of the harmful air pollutants from gas appliances, cooking, and other sources out of the air you breathe, though it is not always a perfect solution. Gas appliances like laundry dryers, furnaces, and water heaters are typically vented outdoors when installed. It’s important to ensure these outdoor vents are intact as the appliance ages to avoid pollutants, like carbon monoxide, sneaking their way into the home.

Use your kitchen ventilation

Using ventilation above your stove is critically important to reducing exposure to harmful pollutants, especially if you have a gas stove. Kitchen vent fans that move air outside the home are most effective at reducing exposure. Some vent fans recirculate air back into the kitchen after pushing it through a filter that removes particulate matter but not other pollutants. To help your fan capture pollutants, prioritize cooking on the back burners and turning on the fan a few minutes before you cook and keep it on for a few minutes after.

Electrify Gas Appliances

The best way to eliminate exposure to gas pollutants in a home is to remove the source altogether. Upgrading to energy efficient, all-electric appliances is a great way to do so.

All-electric homes are an equitable need

Though anyone with gas in their home is susceptible to exposure to air pollutants, some communities face increased burden and are less able to seek solutions.

Communities of Color, particularly black and brown communities, face a host of disparities that put them at increased risk of harm from indoor air pollutants including a higher likelihood of living in neighborhoods with heavy industrial and traffic pollution and living in homes that are older, smaller, or have inadequate ventilation. Even more, communities of color are disproportionately impacted by asthma and respiratory illness making them more vulnerable to gas appliance pollutants.

Infants and Children face higher risk of illness, especially asthma, from poor indoor air due to higher breathing rates, increased activity, smaller bodies, and less developed lungs that have higher surface to body weight ratios.

People with Preexisting Health Conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart or lung disease, and diabetes experience increased cellular injury and systemic inflammation from exposure to air pollutants which leads to “worsening of symptoms, increased medication use, more frequent emergency department visits and hospitalizations, an overall reduced quality of life and, far too often, premature death,” according to the American Lung Association.

Renters, in many cases, are unable to avoid gas use in their homes because they lack the ability to change their appliances or make necessary electrical changes.

The Bottom Line: Gas in homes poses risks to our health

What’s in the air?