@ucbalumnus: please advise the Geek Squad, as they clearly need this basic advice! They gave up with two installs, and that caused me to get the HVAC company.
See above!
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I don’t have a choice. I rent and the apartment comes with a gas stove. I am actually sensitive to it during the winter, when things are closed up. I run the hood fan and crack the door near the stove unless it is too cold. I have also bought two small rice cookers and whenever possible I cook with those.
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I work in a school and you think I would be surprised about this? 
Ditto. We don’t use scented candles either.
I’ve been paying a lot more attention to all sorts of things related to health since my mom died of cancer.
I also care a lot about the planet, so have adjusted there too.
We can’t “fix” everything, but everything we do adds up to something better overall. If enough people get onboard a lot more helps. Sometimes that takes laws. Without laws our waterways would probably still be incredibly more polluted than they are - fires on rivers and streams anyone?
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I would be totally OK if the “govment” paid me to run a 220V line to my cooktop. I would even pay for a new convection cooktop to rip my gas one out, but I will not give up my fireplaces. Lifesaver devices when the power goes out.
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Or when energy companies are gouging you. I have not fired my fireplace up yet, but I’m tempted to get our pot-bellied wood burning stove up and running again. It’s in a location that could heat the whole house up. Decisions, decisions…
I think that getting rid of gas stoves is a dumb idea.
And if they’re going to outlaw them, then the national electric grid needs some serious upgrades first. And an awful lot of electricity is produced with natural gas…including the electricity that powers people’s electric cars. So how much are you really saving the environment?
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How could you possibly suggest this could happen??? (Just kidding).
Living in the Bay Area, I’ve prepped for some basic disaster issues as noted before, including a gas-powered generator and a fully charged inverter.
As noted, we had a power failure recently that was attributable to the weather. The good thing was that all the things we had for an earthquake were put to good use during this episode. I was surprised at how many of our neighbors had nothing as a back-up, and I mentioned to each of them that, for a few hundred dollars and some foresight, many things could be resolved, at least for a few days.
I fully appreciate that not everyone can afford all these things or, because of their accommodations, can store them. But here are a few that we have besides a few days of food and water:
- small portable gas-powered generator
- a couple of low wattage space heaters that can be easily powered by the generator
- small chargeable inverter battery
- a few LED lanterns, some rechargeable with a USB port and some battery powered
- extra batteries (easily available at places like Costco or Amazon)
- a fireplace with some wood
- outdoor BBQ with a spare propane tank for cooking (never had to use this)
Just think about your own environment to get the redunancies that you need and can afford. Not all of us have everything, and we are FAR from being a super-wealthy household that can afford every possible redundancy. Necessity is the mother of invention, I guess, so think ahead as far as practicable for your own situation.
Getting back to the topic at hand on gas stoves, the central issue is WHEN the changeover will occur. AFAIK, in CA, it’s ONLY for new construction and more than decade from now. Given that timeframe, I am not really too bothered.
I just want to make sure that the family is protected today from the current use of our gas stove. If turning on the hood exhaust and/or opening a window or door, that’s really not a big deal.
What is a big deal is our family’s safety AND the health of our environment. In our family, they go hand in hand.
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If you reside in California post prop 65 - you know EVERYTHING causes cancer. Furniture, wood, walking into a building, vacuum cleaners, hair dryers - it all has a prop 65 cancer warning. Right now I am watching a screen which came with a cancer warning while typing on an electronic which had a cancer warning. The batter powered candles that sooth on a still winter night - yup - cancer warning. Why not just put a sticker on those gas stoves and call it a day 
Or ban all that other stuff with the ubiquitous ‘prop 65 cancer warning’. Wait…there would be no place to go and nothing left.
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I appreciate the warnings provided by CA law. We take acceptable risks and will not “call it a day.”
Yup! 
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DH wants to replace our gas cooktop with induction because he feels the health concerns are real, but I think he really just wants new cookware. His argument is that we have outdoor grill burners when need a flame, so there is no need for the indoor gas cooktop. I guess I’m OK with that as long as he pays for it out of his hookers and beer money.
In addition to the cooktop and dryer, our house is heated with gas, but we’re usually able to turn the HVAC system off most of the winter. We’ve had unusually cold temps in AZ this year, though, so our system is now on ECO and trips only if the daytime temp goes below 60. We don’t care how cold it gets at night for sleeping (the colder the better for me). Our January bill was $76.02. I don’t think we’ve seen a gas bill over $100 in this house. Low heating bills are one benefit of living in the desert.
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This is a prime example of crying wolf. When everything is deemed dangerous, pretty soon nothing seems dangerous…
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Maybe we can get a mod to split this thread off and explore this tangent. 
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Which is why I’ve decluttered my home, minimal furniture, we have no carpet to vacuum, keep the windows open most of the year, run an air purifier and don’t use a hair dryer. Just brush and air dry. 
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Speaking of carpets, we sold House1 to a younger couple… the wife was ecstatic that we did not change the carpet before putting the house on the market. I commented that I too would have wanted to pick my own floor coverings. No, she wanted well aged carpet in good shape that she could keep. Why? All off-gassing already happened!
I did rip out well aged carpets here in House2… had to pick between biohazard and chemical hazard. 
The folks who owned this house before us rented it out to serious partiers… who knows what sort of stains those were! Lol.
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Because our electric grid is so unreliable and power is liable to be turned off in times of high fire danger, many in our neighborhood are fitting backup generators powered by the natural gas supply. Ironically PG&E is even subsidizing this, despite local cities banning new homes from using gas:
https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/save-energy-money/savings-programs/backup-power-transfer-meter.page
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People who complain about gas stove emissions should not use their woodburning fireplaces. Compare their carbon emissions!! Because of high PG&E bills, people are using more and more wood to heat their houses. After the recent CA storms, huge amounts of “free” wood are available.
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In California they’re outright banning the sale of gas furnaces and water heaters by 2030, so when those need to be replaced, a lot of houses are going to need to be rewired to handle it. Gas stoves haven’t been banned statewide yet, but cities are starting to ban new gas hookups, so gas stoves will likely become more scarce, and thus more expensive.
I should point out that these aren’t policies that were debated and approved by elected members of the state legislature. These are mandates implemented by the California Air Resources Board, whose members are all appointed by the governor. They’re doing Newsom’s bidding. My hope is that as we get closer to 2030, public pressure will build to the point that whoever the governor is at that time will delay or remove Newsom’s mandates.
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I guess if you’re burning your food that might happen. I’ve never seen smoke and vapors coming from the gas flame itself unless one of the vents is clogged, and that’s only until whatever’s clogging it gets burned away.
My husband opens every window in every room every day to air out our house. Even on very cold days. This is how he grew up and believes it is essential for good health. I grew up with doors and windows shut all winter with no thought about “changing the air” as he calls it.
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I have a gas cooktop but electric double ovens. These were put in about 12 years ago when we gut renovated the kitchen. I’m not planning a change now. During periods of power loss a gas cooktop has been a godsend. Our home is also heated by gas - we installed a new combi boiler 5 years ago so replacing that is off the table as well. Unfortunately, the cost of electricity here (in MA) has skyrocketed - bills that were in the $75 range are now double that at a minimum. I’m unsure of the environmental benefits of pushing everything to electric since most electricity is generated from natural gas (the irony), coal and nuclear power.
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