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Nitrogen oxide & dioxide (NOx) air pollution is certainly a problem, but in terms of policy and impact, diesel-burning engines are probably the greatest immedia

Nitrogen oxide & dioxide (NOx) air pollution is certainly a problem, but in terms of policy and impact, diesel-burning engines are probably the greatest immediate problem. Fundamentally, the issue is that the atmosphere is 80% N2 and when combustion takes place at high pressure and/or high temperature, some fraction of that N2 gets converted to NOx species. Gas burns at a high enough temperature to drive this process, and internal combustion engines (especially higher-pressure diesel engines) do the same. Using gas-powered stoves and heaters can certainly increase indoor levels of NOx without a good ventilation and exhaust system. Poorly adjusted gas burners of all kinds can also generate carbon monoxide, CO, due to incomplete combustion, which kills about 400 people a year in the USA and accounts for 100K hospital visits (CDC). However, diesel (and older gasoline) engines generate an additional list of air pollutants that greatly increase asthma and other respiratory ailments: ozone and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which undergo further reactions with NOx in the atmosphere to form things like PAN (peroxyacyl nitrates). This toxic cocktail makes up much of the smog that hovers over so many regions, and it definitely is a major cause of childhood asthma, certainly more so than indoor gas stoves. Hence in terms of regulatory approaches, replacing all diesel vehicles with electric ones would have a greater impact on childhood asthma than something like a ban on gas stoves would. Ensuring homes with gas appliances have good exhaust and ventilation would make more immediate sense. (2018) Diesel, children and respiratory disease https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5976105/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5976105/

eesmith 4y ago
> Ensuring homes with gas appliances have good exhaust and ventilation would make more immediate sense. Quoting a Mother Jones piece from last year, at https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/ https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-foss... : ] The gas industry claims that proper ventilation can take care of any combustion fumes. Yet even among families who are aware of the potential health effects, many cannot afford to install a sufficiently powerful hood vent, and there’s certainly no regulation requiring it. Indeed, most stove fans do little more than move the polluted air about. Because of dated building codes and an unregulated market, low-income Americans, many of whom are renters, have to put up with invisible combustion byproducts in cramped living spaces. So it comes down to, who will pay for it? And who will face what penalties for not following those requirements? > than something like a ban on gas stoves would The proposed bans concern bans on gas hookups for new housing, which seems relatively inexpensive and doesn't require the infrastructure changes of changing all diesel (and older gasoline) engines to battery. It's also easier to tell the builder they cannot get gas hookups than to shut of gas to a house which doesn't have the wiring to switch to electric stoves and heat. > Poorly adjusted gas burners of ... kills about 400 people a year in the USA and accounts for 100K hospital visits. The CDC numbers I found give stronger support for reducing petroleum engines than for improving exhaust. Over half of those 400 accidental deaths due to CO poisoning come from automobile engines, and another quarter come from generators and engine-based tools. Less than a quarter (I couldn't find an accurate breakdown) come from poor ventilation of gas-powered stoves and heaters. The CDC numbers I found were for 50K hospital visits, and I didn't find a breakdown for how many come specifically from poor home ventilation. There certainly are some, and I support the proposal that HUD needs the funding to provide and maintain CO detectors for HUD subsidized housing, which would help. But I think the push for decreasing the number of gas stoves can be done on a different timescale, and in parallel, to the the push for decreasing the number of gas and diesel vehicles. And I think both can be placed primarily under the umbrella of reducing NOx exposure.

eesmith 4y ago

> Ensuring homes with gas appliances have good exhaust and ventilation would make more immediate sense. Quoting a Mother Jones piece from last year, at https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/ https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-foss... : ] The gas industry claims that proper ventilation can take care of any combustion fumes. Yet even among families who are aware of the potential health effects, many cannot afford to install a sufficiently powerful hood vent, and there’s certainly no regulation requiring it. Indeed, most stove fans do little more than move the polluted air about. Because of dated building codes and an unregulated market, low-income Americans, many of whom are renters, have to put up with invisible combustion byproducts in cramped living spaces. So it comes down to, who will pay for it? And who will face what penalties for not following those requirements? > than something like a ban on gas stoves would The proposed bans concern bans on gas hookups for new housing, which seems relatively inexpensive and doesn't require the infrastructure changes of changing all diesel (and older gasoline) engines to battery. It's also easier to tell the builder they cannot get gas hookups than to shut of gas to a house which doesn't have the wiring to switch to electric stoves and heat. > Poorly adjusted gas burners of ... kills about 400 people a year in the USA and accounts for 100K hospital visits. The CDC numbers I found give stronger support for reducing petroleum engines than for improving exhaust. Over half of those 400 accidental deaths due to CO poisoning come from automobile engines, and another quarter come from generators and engine-based tools. Less than a quarter (I couldn't find an accurate breakdown) come from poor ventilation of gas-powered stoves and heaters. The CDC numbers I found were for 50K hospital visits, and I didn't find a breakdown for how many come specifically from poor home ventilation. There certainly are some, and I support the proposal that HUD needs the funding to provide and maintain CO detectors for HUD subsidized housing, which would help. But I think the push for decreasing the number of gas stoves can be done on a different timescale, and in parallel, to the the push for decreasing the number of gas and diesel vehicles. And I think both can be placed primarily under the umbrella of reducing NOx exposure.