Hydrogen heating: UK government at odds with scientists

(EurActiv, 3 Oct 2022) The new UK energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg envisions the use of hydrogen in heating homes, something energy experts and scientists strongly advise against.

Hydrogen is expected to play an essential role in future energy systems. Fertiliser production, industrial high-temperature heat and heavy-duty trucks are seen as uncontroversial use scenarios, while applications like hydrogen cars or low-temperature process heat usually seen as non-viable.

But the new British government has other plans.

“I think hydrogen is ultimately the silver bullet,” explained Rees-Mogg while addressing the lower house of the UK parliament.

The energy secretary subsequently laid out his plans to produce hydrogen “from renewable sources” to use it “as an effective battery” to be “piped through to people’s houses to heat them during the winter.”

Houses are a significant energy consumer, as buildings in the EU account for approximately 40% of the final energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. 

Proponents of hydrogen heating argue that existing gas infrastructure can be retrofitted for hydrogen transport, while fossil fuel boilers could be tweaked to run on hydrogen efficiently. During the transition, fossil gas and hydrogen could be blended together, without any changes to infrastructure.

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EurActiv, 3 Oct 2022: Hydrogen heating: UK government at odds with scientists

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