Did you know that over 80% of UK homes are heated by gas, and that heating accounts for 1/3 of UK CO2 emissions?
The UK is actually doing more than it’s part to reduce carbon emissions – our goal of a 57% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 dwarfs the EU goal of 40%. Even more ambitiously, we want to reduce them by 80% by 2050. The plan was, or is, to de-carbonise electricity production which has been happening with the push towards solar and wind energy.
The next step was to electrify heat. The only problem is that the aggregate peak demand for heat is 300 gigawatts, which is more than five times the demand for electricity. The problem is that at the moment coal and fossil fuels are proving more practical to store, and there aren’t that many alternatives.
However, there could be one… Hydrogen could be the key to unlocking a sustainable energy economy. Its main benefits are that it is next to carbon neutral, and it could be stored in fuel cells. What’s more, the current gas pipeline is largely compatible with hydrogen, and the only real change consumers may have to make is to change their burners on their equipment.
There are already experiments happening over the UK, such as in Leeds where Northern Gas Networks and Wales & West Utilities are studying the feasibility of converting the existing natural gas networks to transport hydrogen.
They have found that: 1) the gas network has the correct capacity for the conversion, which would reduce emissions by 73%. 2) the network can be converted incrementally to minimise disruption. Likewise Keele University have trialled blending hydrogen into the existing gas supply to prove that a hybrid could be rolled out to the public without disruption.
Finally, the Hydrogen for Heat programme aims to design and develop new appliances that can be run on hydrogen and explore the practicalities of using hydrogen in homes. Eventually, they aim to implement a pilot project in a small village or town.
Written by Zak Hurst, Director of Southern Energy Solutions, Hastings.