A new Climate Nexus survey on American adults’ attitudes about gas, appliances, and building electrification finds large gaps in perceptions of “natural gas” and “methane,” and strong support for gas stove safety regulations.
Highlights of the survey include:
- Solar is Americans’ most favored source of energy (83% favorable), followed by wind (74%) and then natural gas (72%). A minority of Americans have favorable views of oil (47%), nuclear energy (43%), 35% (coal), and methane gas (27%).
- There is a 45 percentage point gap in favorability of “natural gas” (72%) vs. “methane gas” (27%).
- 56% of Americans consider “natural gas” to be clean energy, but when presented as “methane gas,” only 19% do.
- 38% of Americans view energy produced from natural gas as having a negative impact on individuals’ health, and 1 in 3 (33%) say the same about gas stoves.
- Americans are about evenly split on personal preferences for gas (43%) and electric (42%) stoves for cooking.
- Americans broadly support regulations to improve the safety of gas stoves, including:
- Including sensors that report unhealthy levels of air pollution on all new gas stoves — 79%
- Adding a warning label to new gas stoves to inform consumers of health risks — 78%
- Increasing efficiency standards to reduce pollution from new gas stoves — 77%
- Selling all new gas stoves with a hood that vents outdoors — 66%
- Providing rebates and tax incentives to replace gas stoves with electric stoves — 62%
- Most Americans (54%) support local governments requiring all newly constructed homes and buildings to be wired for electric appliances and electric vehicle charging.
The survey of 4,255 adults in the United States (18+) was conducted July 11-16, 2023, and has a margin of error of +/- 1.5%.