Your Kitchen's Air May Be More Polluted Than London's

Who knew kitchens could be so dangerous? Researchers from the University of Sheffield in the UK discovered that the air quality in gas stove kitchens were three times as bad as the air outside.

The study, published in the journal Indoor and Built Environment, compared a rural kitchen with an electric stove, a kitchen with a gas stove in the center of the city, and another gas stove kitchen by a main road.

The scary result? Researchers found that kitchens with a gas cooker had three times the amount of nitrogen dioxide found in the outside air. In fact, both gas kitchens had higher air particle concentrations than government standards for outdoor air quality in London and England.

"Energy is just one source of indoor pollution, but it is a significant one. And as we make our homes more airtight to reduce heating costs, we are likely to be exposed to higher levels of indoor pollution, with potential impacts on our health," lead researcher Vida Sharifi said.

Researchers found higher levels of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide in flats with gas stoves. Perhaps that's one reason to switch to electric stoves? "We spend 90 percent of our time indoors and work hard to make our homes warm, secure and comfortable," Sharifi said, "but we rarely think about the pollution we might be breathing in."