March 2025 saw natural gas prices rise to a two-year high, according to Forbes, with extreme weather, supply issues, and global demand seeing prices surge.
During a previous international gas crisis in 2022, fueled by Russia's military invasion of Ukraine and subsequent profiteering by energy companies, one streamer tried to demonstrate how this issue was not a serious concern to them.
As Vice reported, the Russian-based Twitch broadcaster ran their gas stove 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they filmed the whole thing.
Before the stream was banned by Twitch, it gained attention for its efforts to show that doing so for a whole month cost just €1.44 ($1.56). However, while this was an attempt to prove a point to the rest of the world that Russian energy reserves and the nation's customers were doing just fine during the crisis, the streamer probably caused themself quite a bit of harm.
Scientific American spoke to a number of experts to outline the potential health risks of running a gas stove indoors.
Josiah Kephart, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Drexel University, told the publication that among the major concerns is the release of nitrogen dioxide into the home. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide has been linked to an increased risk of respiratory illnesses in children.
Ulrike Gehring, an associate professor at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, also noted that a link between natural gas stoves and respiratory symptoms in women has also been established.
Meanwhile, long-term exposure can also lead to chronic lung disease and also increase the risk of early death. Even unburned natural gas can leak from stoves and release benzene, which is a known carcinogen.
While trying to troll the rest of the world, the Twitch streamer might have made a serious error of judgment.
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No way 👎 Of course, aside from the health risks, burning natural gas releases planet-warming pollution. According to a Stanford University study detailed by Euronews, the leaking of methane — a polluting gas that traps heat in the atmosphere more effectively than carbon dioxide — from stoves in the United States was estimated to be equivalent to the carbon dioxide produced by 500,000 gas-powered vehicles.
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If all this is ringing alarm bells about your kitchen's stovetop, there are alternatives. An electric induction cooker, for example, doesn't release harmful gases and is a lot more energy efficient thanks to faster cooking times. This technology can help to reduce the presence of toxic chemicals in the home while also saving money on energy bills.
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