Boffins reveal: Why your kitchen’s more polluted than a city centre

SCIENTISTS at a Yorkshire university yesterday revealed shock findings which show air quality inside a domestic kitchen can have pollutant levels three times higher than in city centres and along busy roads.

Researchers from Sheffield University’s Faculty of Engineering measured air quality inside and outside three homes with both gas and electric cookers.

They found that nitrogen dioxide levels in the kitchen of a flat with a gas cooker were three times higher than concentrations outside the property and well above those recommended in Government guidance.

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Professor Vida Sharifi, who led the research, said: “We spend 90 per cent of our time indoors and work hard to make our homes warm and comfortable, but rarely think about pollution we might be breathing in.

“Energy is just one source of indoor pollution, but it is a significant one. As we make our homes more airtight to reduce heating costs, we are likely to be exposed to higher levels of indoor pollution.”

The study, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), compared a rural house with two flats, one in Sheffield city centre and the other in an urban location next to a busy road.

The rural house had an electric cooker while both flats used gas appliances. Samples were taken outside and inside the properties, over a four-week period.

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The average particle concentrations measured by the research team in the kitchens of both flats with gas cookers were higher than the levels set by the Government as its objective for outdoor air quality.

Prof Sharifi said: “Concerns about air quality tend to focus on what we breathe in outdoors, but as we spend most of our time indoors, we need to understand more about air pollution in our homes.

“Although ours was just a small study, it highlights the need for more research to determine the impact of changing housing on indoor air quality.”