Kitchens Can Produce Hazardous Levels of Indoor Pollutants

July 24, 2013

A feature article from Berkeley Lab's Public Affairs Department about EETD scientists studying indoor air pollution:

Scientist Brett Singer is a vegetarian. So why has he been frying up hamburgers? Singer and his team of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) indoor air researchers have found hazardous levels of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide in a surprisingly large portion of California home kitchens. What’s more, their studies have shown that the most common device for mitigating this indoor air problem—range hoods—vary widely in performance.

In a small nondescript building in a parking lot on the Berkeley Lab site, Singer’s group has set up a test kitchen to conduct a battery of cooking trials. By frying up burgers and green beans with a variety of range hoods operating at different settings, the researchers are collecting important data on the impacts to air quality as well as developing a standard test for range hoods that could eventually allow consumers to evaluate and compare their effectiveness.

Read the rest at the link below.