Time to rule out hydrogen for home heating
3 min read
To meet its net-zero target, the UK must decarbonise nearly all heating in buildings. While hydrogen has been proposed as a potential alternative to natural gas, former Energy Minister, Lord Callanan, argues that the UK should abandon plans for hydrogen in domestic heating and instead focus entirely on proven technologies such as heat pumps
This summer, the government is expected to announce its proposals for whether to allow or effectively rule out the use of hydrogen for heating our homes – a decision that cuts to the heart of the net-zero debate.
As a former energy minister, I can say that burning hydrogen in boilers across the country is uneconomical, logistically impossible, and would be hugely damaging for our climate and people’s pockets.
With more than a tenth of the UK’s total carbon emissions coming from heating our homes, and with reliance on fossil fuel heating making us vulnerable to energy price shocks, we must have clean alternatives to gas. Certain lobbyists will contend that highly combustible hydrogen can be piped through the gas network and used to feed boilers that 80 per cent or so of us have in our homes.
In practice, that is not a serious or credible route for decarbonising the UK’s housing stock, let alone reducing energy bills. The first consideration is, where would such large amounts of hydrogen come from? The UK has very limited hydrogen-producing capacities currently: something that must be remedied at pace by this government. But even if we were to massively scale up hydrogen production, that critical resource would be needed for sectors that are hard to electrify, including industrial processes such as steel and fertiliser manufacturing, or aviation. By far the least efficient use of hydrogen – a costly and precious resource – would be burning it in millions of homes.
“Hydrogen should not, indeed cannot, feasibly play a role in our transition away from gas heating”
And yes, hydrogen is costly. Analysis by respected energy experts Cornwall Insight found that using hydrogen for home heating would drive up bills by 70 – 90 per cent compared to gas, making it “simply uneconomical”.1 This analysis is backed by, among others, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, the Climate Change Committee, and a host of independent reviews. Contrary to claims made by some gas lobbyists, the gas grid would need significant upgrading to safely carry volatile, highly combustible hydrogen, driving up bills yet further. At a time when energy costs are at the forefront of political debate, it would be a strange and damaging choice to knowingly pursue a policy that would increase bills yet further.
The British public ought to be firmly against such a technology that would face such constraints and bring about high costs. Yet speak to many people who have recently had their boiler serviced, and they will tell you that their gas engineer has told them that they should not get a heat pump and should instead wait for hydrogen to come along. The mixed and misleading messaging that consumers are receiving about the viability of hydrogen is actively hindering the critical rollout of heat pumps and in turn holding back our shift to clean, fossil fuel-free heating.
Hydrogen should not, indeed cannot, feasibly play a role in our transition away from gas heating. It is time for the government to finally rule out hydrogen for home heating, allowing renewed focus on the ramping up of heat pump installations.
References
1. MCS Foundation; New report shows fuel bills could rise 90% under Government’s hydrogen plans. https://mcsfoundation.org.uk/news/new-report-shows-fuel-bills-could-rise-90-under-governments-hydrogen-plans/
