Roles

Student co-authors:

Bramley Hawkins '26, Gettysburg College

Emily Lyons '26, Gettysburg College

Kailey Sipe, Dickinson College

Dinela Dedic, Dickinson College

Alexander Jones, Dickinson College

Matt Steiman, Dickinson College

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-9-2025

Department 1

Health Sciences

Abstract

Indoor air pollution from gas stove combustion remains a public health concern, given links to adverse cardiorespiratory health effects, yet few studies have characterized or compared the air quality impacts of different gas-based cooking fuels. We investigated kitchen-level concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in four homes in Central Pennsylvania that used natural gas and/or biogas fueled stoves. We conducted time-resolved kitchen monitoring and assessed pollutant concentrations during cooking and non-cooking periods. We applied linear mixed-effect regression models with kitchen-level random effects and time-varying covariates to estimate the influence of fuel type on indoor air quality. During cooking, mean kitchen NO2 concentrations during cooking were more than 160% higher in homes using natural gas compared with biogas (95% confidence interval [CI]: 109.4%, 211.1%), although both levels remained below the WHO guideline. PM2.5 concentrations showed limited sensitivity to fuel type, with modest differences observed. Adjusted mixed-effect regression models revealed attenuated but consistent associations, with natural gas use increasing NO2 exposure by 2.8 ppb, or 60.3% (95% CI: 1.7, 4.6 ppb). These findings suggest further research into understanding the exposure and health benefits of alternative fuels in residential kitchen settings is merited.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

DOI

10.3390/atmos16091061

ISBN/ISSN

2073-4433

Version

Version of Record

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