Interesting and good read about how indoor natural gas cooking reduces indoor health and air quality:

GBA Article

The findings show high levels of nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide in excess of safe standards. These toxins have been shown to cause a slew of health problems including lung disease and cancer.

The range hoods were highly ineffective in removing these toxins, some as low as 15% while only a handful were at 80%, although they had to be run on high cfm and they sucked a lot of air out of the home.

I personally don't like gas or propane cooking as I have had to live through a few gas leaks and a neighbors home being leveled off of its foundation due to a gas leak and explosion. That's just my personal phobia and my next home will be electric convection cooking.

Here is the Lawrence Berkeley Lab Article.PDF

One person stated,

"Earlier this year I measured carbon dioxide (CO2) levels while running our gas oven for almost an hour. The CO2 levels went from 500 ppm to 1,900 ppm, with the exhaust fan on! The CO2 levels in the bedrooms upstairs went to 1,700. I think that the OSHA recommended CO2 level is below 1,000 ppm. The CO2 levels in the kitchen didn't fall below 1,000 ppm until almost noon the next day. I'm also worried about the other pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitorgen dioxide and formaldehyde. I wonder how much pollution we were exposed to around holidays when the oven and several burners would be on for hours a day."


On a tight home with gas cooking grills going on full blast, one can see some dangerously high levels of CO2, not to mention the other toxins.

Get a grip, Lbear. The Berkeley author answers the question she raises in this study in a second paper titled "Why we Ventilate."
http://homes.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/lbnl-5093e.pdf I think we can agree that the woman who found high levels of CO2 the following day was not meeting code at 0.35 air changes/hr or better.

You will note that CO2 is not listed in this paper as a chronic exposure concern. The author raises concerns about five pollutants. "The hazards of SHS and radon are more widely recognized and focused in a smaller fraction of homes. By contrast, PM2.5 , acrolein, and formaldehyde are present at substantial levels in most homes yet there may be less widespread recognition of these hazards."
SHS is secondhand cigarette smoke. PM2.5 is fine particulates. Acrolein is a chemical produced by overheating fat -- with any heating source. Formaldehyde is a given in new construction.

I never understood why one would draw HRV/ERV exhaust from bathrooms when pollutants are concentrated in primary living areas -- i.e. where the structure's inhabitants spend their time.

At any rate it behooves us to discuss fixes rather than run screaming into the street that the sky is falling in big black chunks.

With highly variable levels of radon, smoke, formaldehyde, etc, I think it is silly to use a single ACH value for all cases. On the other hand, some of these things aren't easy to measure and with an ERV, some level of excess ventilation isn't very expensive.

Right on Tod!

But, "I never understood why one would draw HRV/ERV exhaust from bathrooms when pollutants are concentrated in primary living areas -- i.e. where the structure's inhabitants spend their time."

We agree that CO2 is not a pollutant, but might discuss bathrooms. Setting aside the obvious, humidity is the thing.

http://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/121919/AN%20UPDATE%20ON%20FORMALDEHYDE%20final%200113.pdf

If you don't cook, going all electric is no big deal. I don't know any serious cooks who use an electric cooktop or a gas oven.

One might take note that every few years someone is hurt while cooking Thanksgiving turkey with a gas oven. With poor ventilation, close space and extra folks around, it pays to be aware, i.e. crack a window.

I am not afraid of CO2.

High CO2 levels (say over 1000 ppm) cause poor thinking and headaches. Based on Nelson's (probably a man) "The CO2 levels went from 500 ppm to 1,900 ppm, with the exhasut fan on!", such levels may be common in homes using gas in the kitchen.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/carbon-dioxide-decision-making-meeting-rooms-classrooms_n_2006289.html

Unless you are working in a commercial kitchen, cooking is an incidental activity. Personally, I don't require "high CO2 levels" for "poor thinking or headaches"...:-).

Induction cooktops rival gas burners in infinite settings and response time. But again, if charred steaks and blackened redfish are your thing, the heat source matters less than a range hood that works. Yes, there is an energy penalty. As far as I know, wasting a few btus won't keep you out of heaven.

Amen to that, brother;-).