Appliances for Cooking, Heating, and Other Energy Services

Appliances employ energy to provide services such as cooking, space heating, water heating, and lighting. Available energy is delivered either by a carrier such as electricity or by combustion of a wide range of fuels ranging from natural gas to liquid fuels to solid coal, wood, or waste. When combustion occurs indoors without direct venting, occupants are exposed to effluents, as they have been throughout human history. Cooktops and cooking stoves have a multitude of forms depending on the fuel and the type of food, and are the most likely appliances to release effluents to occupied space. Devices that provide space heat and water heat are often enclosed, vented, and isolated from the living space, although fugitive emissions can still occur. Lighting has mostly transitioned to electricity although some regions use liquid fuels with high emissions. The nature of combustion alters the mass, particle size distributions, and chemical composition of emissions, with gaseous and liquid fuels yielding lower emissions. Strategies for separating humans from combustion emissions include improving combustion and ventilation, processing fuel, using cleaner fuels, and altering the ways in which energy services are provided. Appliances form part of a complex system that includes humans, infrastructure, and expectations in addition to fuels and devices.