Clean air and power starts at home

For one Stanford climate scientist, safeguarding human wellbeing is the most compelling reason to prioritize clean energy.

“You would never stand over the tailpipe of a car breathing in its pollution, and yet we stand over our stoves day after day, week after week, breathing in the same pollutants,” said Rob Jackson, faculty director of Electrification for Health, a new program based at the Stanford Center for Human and Planetary Health. 

The program builds on years of Stanford research linking fossil fuel-powered appliances to poor indoor air quality. Now, it will unite scientific experts with government agencies, health leaders, environmental justice groups, and community partners to build consensus for clean energy use in homes and buildings.

“Electrification is one of the fastest and most effective ways to improve our health today, while giving us the livable planet that we all want,” said Brady Seals, director of Electrification for Health (E4H).

‘Infusing health’ into the conversation

The conversation around clean energy often centers on how we generate electricity for the grid, such as transitioning from coal and natural gas power plants to renewable sources like wind and solar.

Yet roughly six out of ten American households use appliances that directly burn fossil fuels, including natural-gas powered stoves, furnaces, space heaters, and water heaters. According to research from Jackson’s lab in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, methane leaking from natural gas–burning stoves inside U.S. homes has an annual climate impact comparable to the carbon dioxide emissions from about 500,000 gasoline-powered cars.

At that scale, transitioning to electric alternatives can meaningfully reduce emissions that drive climate change. But Jackson, a professor of Earth system science in the Doerr School of Sustainability, sees an even more immediate benefit: protecting your family’s health today.

Combustion from gas stoves produces benzene, a chemical linked to higher rates of blood cell cancers which can leak from stoves even when they are off. Gas stoves also release unsafe levels of nitrogen dioxide that persist for hours after use. Repeated exposure to these chemicals contributes to a higher risk of asthma and heart disease.

Taken together, the research shows that gas appliances are a largely overlooked source of emissions and indoor air pollution, especially for children and residents of older, smaller, or poorly ventilated homes. “We are excited because we think that infusing health into this conversation will help us achieve electrification faster for health and for the climate,” said Seals.

The good news? Solutions already exist in the form of induction cooktops, heat pumps, and improved ventilation, Seals noted. She highlighted lowering costs, garnering public awareness, and leveraging policy as some of the best opportunities for speeding up the transition.

Related: The environmental and health impacts of gas stoves

An Uncommon Dialogue sparks a common interest

Recognizing the need to develop a coordinated approach for improving indoor air quality, Jackson worked with the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment to host an Uncommon Dialogue in 2025. The meeting brought together a cross-section of experts like Seals and others from academia, utilities, building and construction, housing advocacy, policy, environmental justice, energy, and community groups to explore opportunities and barriers to electrification.

“Uncommon Dialogues serve as a neutral convening space where people can share their knowledge and experience to workshop solutions for society’s most vexing environmental problems,” said Chris Field, the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Woods Institute. “Electrification for Health is a great example of how these conversations can kickstart meaningful long-term collaborations.”

The participants identified several priorities, such as increasing public awareness of gas appliances’ health impacts, developing funding and incentives for projects like whole-home retrofits, and generating evidence-based standards for indoor air quality.

When Jackson received the Blue Planet Prize for his decades of work on climate and the environment, he saw an opportunity to act on the Uncommon Dialogue’s momentum. In late 2025, Jackson and his wife Sally donated the prize money to help enable the Electrification for Health program to launch with a clear vision: clean air and power for all.

Research, policy, and community collaborations offer a path forward

The program is founded on three pillars. First, rigorous scientific research provides evidence to inform air quality benchmarks and policies and better understand the health impacts of fossil fuel use, starting with homes.

Second, the team aims to translate research for decision-makers. Jackson and Seals described a cycle that feeds into itself, where research informs policy, which builds ongoing relationships between science and governance, which supplies questions and future directions for research.

Third, environmental justice organizations and health experts are essential collaborators who can offer context-specific guidance for implementing electrification initiatives and reaching those who are most at risk from adverse health effects. “We need partners to affect change, influence policy, and clean our air,” said Jackson.

For renters and lower-income households who may lack the flexibility to replace gas appliances, Seals and Jackson encourage people to cook on the back burners, increase ventilation (such as using a range hood or opening a window), transition some cooking to smaller electric appliances like air fryers, toaster ovens, and multicookers, or consider trying a portable plug-in induction cooktop.  

Ultimately, the group sees electrification as a way to reduce exposure to harmful air pollution around the world. More than 2 billion people worldwide rely on burning charcoal or wood to cook , which creates dangerous levels of household air pollution for families. Besides being used for cooking, biomass, gas, and oil are commonly used around the world for heating homes and water – a major driver of pollution associated with buildings and health impacts.   

The program is kicking off with a focus on  homes and appliances, but exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollution is now the second leading risk factor for early death worldwide, said Seals. “Much of that is preventable, so we have a lot of work to do.”