Hydrogen ‘less efficient and more expensive’ for heating homes than other energy

Focus should be on finding energy-efficient alternatives over using hydrogen, say experts

Heating Gomes with hydrogen is not environmentally friendly, say experts (Gett Images/iStockphoto)

Hydrogen is unlikely to be used to heat the majority of homes across Britain in the future, according to a new report.

Researchers in Brussels, Belgium found that out of more than 20 studies analysed, none said there would be widespread use of the fuel in central heating systems.

Last year, the government said hydrogen could play a key role in heating homes and businesses and powering cookers by 2035 and is set to outline what the role might be by 2026.

But, the research found that using hydrogen in domestic heating is less efficient, more resource intensive and has a bigger environmental impact than other alternatives.

These include heat pumps, using solar thermal panels which heat water directly in the sunlight, and district heating – where whole blocks or neighbourhoods are supplied through the same hot water system.

Around 50 per cent of global final energy use in the world today is used for heating and cooling (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“Using hydrogen for heating may sound attractive at first glance,” said Jan Rosenow, Europe director at the Regulatory Assistance Project think tank in Brussels, who carried out the research.

“However, all of the independent research on this topic comes to the same conclusion: heating with hydrogen is a lot less efficient and more expensive than alternatives such as heat pumps, district heating and solar thermal.

“Rather than hoping for hydrogen to eventually be able to replace fossil gas used for heating our buildings, we should focus on speeding up the roll-out of energy efficiency and heat pumps, technologies consistently identified as critical for reducing carbon emissions from buildings.”

Proponents of hydrogen for heating say that the gas could tap into the existing natural gas pipelines that connect to most homes.

They also believe that it would be easier to reconfigure homes to run with hydrogen boilers.

At its most environmentally friendly, hydrogen can be made by using renewable electricity to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

But only a small portion of hydrogen is made this way – 95 per cent is made by splitting natural gas into hydrogen and carbon – which contributes to climate change unless the carbon is captured.

Figuring out a new way to heat homes will be incredibly important as the world switches towards a sustainable future.

Around 50 per cent of global energy use is for heating and cooling. In the UK nearly nine in 10 households use natural gas to heat their homes.

In the UK, nearly nine in 10 households use natural gas to heat their homes (iStock)

Mr Rosenow’s report found that hydrogen will be needed elsewhere in the economy, however, such as for heavy industry, to store electricity and to run ships.

Unlike heating, there are few other viable alternatives for these areas.

Heat pumps would also be a cheaper way to heat homes in the long run, the studies find. Making green hydrogen will likely become much cheaper because the cost of green electricity falls.

But that will also mean that using green electricity to power a heat pump will become cheaper at the same time.

Michael Liebreich, Bloomberg New Energy Finance founder and chairman of Liebreich Associates, said: “This is a timely paper, showing that no serious analysis has hydrogen playing more than a marginal role in the future of space heating.

“We need to get Europe’s heating systems off natural gas, and we need to do it without further delay.

“It’s time to stop the fight: the judges are unanimous and the winners are district heating, heat pumps and electrification.

“What clean hydrogen we have, we need to save for the parts of the economy electrification cannot reach. In particular, we need it to replace the dirty hydrogen we use right now, which is driving 2% of global CO2 emissions.”