Replacing gas with hydrogen for home heating could result in 90% energy bill rises over 30 years, a report – commissioned by MCS Charitable Foundation – by energy analysts Cornwall Insight has found.
The authors of the report conclude that hydrogen will be a much more expensive heating fuel than natural gas and thus it would be better to prioritise other technologies to decarbonise domestic heating, like heat pumps.
This comes as the Government is preparing to decide next year whether to allow blending of up to 20% hydrogen into the gas network, and is due to make a decision on rolling out hydrogen for home heating on a mass scale in 2026.
MCS Charitable Foundation, whose work focusses on decarbonising homes, heat and energy to deliver a net zero future says that this report adds weight to the fast-growing body of evidence showing hydrogen is economically and environmentally unviable as a source of home heating.
Dr Richard Hauxwell-Baldwin, Research & Campaigns Manager at MCS Charitable Foundation, said:
Pursuing hydrogen for home heating would lock in high energy prices for a generation. At a time when we need policies in place to cut both bills and carbon, pursuing hydrogen for home heating seems a strange policy choice.
The fossil fuel industry is lobbying hard to get hydrogen pumped into homes around the country as it would allow them to continue their otherwise unsustainable businesses. But this would be a disaster for already hard-pressed households and the environment.
The most cost effective, efficient and sustainable way to reduce energy bills would be for the Government to massively invest in the electrification of heat through heat pumps and heat networks, not hydrogen.
Jitendra Patel, Senior Consultant at Cornwall Insight and an author of the report, said:
While hydrogen does have a part to play in the decarbonisation pathway, through for example use in the industrial sectors and in the use of surplus electricity, current and forecast costs all show it is simply uneconomical to use a 100% hydrogen fuel for heating our homes.
We do however see benefits in accelerating the roll out of renewable generation to help bring down generation costs and we predict a near cost parity between green and blue hydrogen production methods by 2030 when using surplus electricity.
