AERLIFT: Assessing Exposure to Residential Air Pollution for Low-Income Families with Gas and Electric Cooking Technologies
Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, Inc.
Recipient
Berkeley, CA
Recipient Location
7th
Senate District
14th
Assembly District
$0
Amount Spent
Active
Project Status
Project Update
The AERLIFT project is currently in the planning phase. The kick-off meeting was held in February 2025. The team successfully recruited the Technical Advisory Committee, conducted the first Technical Advisory Committee meeting, and are preparing the institutional review board application.
The Issue
The proposed study will evaluate the effectiveness of a health-focused community program transitioning low-income and health-vulnerable populations from gas to induction cooking, aiming to reduce exposure to household air pollution. The study will conduct exposure assessments, build a comprehensive database of personal and kitchen air pollutant concentrations, and apply a rigorous stepped-wedge design across 300 homes. It will provide detailed exposure estimates linked to cooking behaviors and assess how ventilation practices affect exposure, with a focus on children, the most vulnerable to pollutants. This research will expand environmental risk characterization by measuring a wide range of pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (including elemental composition), and Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene (BTEX) compounds.
Project Innovation
The overall goal of this study is to provide an empirical basis for guiding future intervention policies such as building ventilation and electrification in California. Informing these programmatic actions with sound scientific evidence will be critical to minimize exposure for California residents, and especially critical for energy-poor and vulnerable populations.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This real-world assessment will inform projections on air quality and economic outcomes of electrification policies, serving as a decision-making tool for stakeholders and policymakers in evaluating energy transition pathways.
Consumer Appeal
AERLIFT’s outputs will benefit stakeholders by streamlining planning processes, eliminating barriers to clean energy adoption, and stimulating market growth.
Economic Development
By analyzing utility and induction stove power usage, the study will be able to estimate the monthly energy costs associated with electric stove usage. The Home Electrification Equity Tool (HEET) will be used to generate estimates of the operating costs and capital costs of additional electric appliances.
Environmental Sustainability
This project will assess air pollutant reductions resulting from the switch from gas to electric stoves, providing ratepayers with crucial information on the health and environmental advantages of electrification.
Key Project Members
Dr. Michael Johnson
Dr. Ajay Pillarisetti,
Subrecipients
