CARBON NEUTRAL
Just when we are told that all gas boilers will be banned from new homes by 2025 and we start to frantically look at all types of alternative heating solutions, I need to tell you that there are some other significant developments happening in the background. What if the boilers are not actually the problem but it is the fuel that is dirty?
In a similar vein we haven’t banned all cars, we have instead made them more efficient and enabled them to operate on different (cleaner) fuels. It is in this context that earlier this year we saw the launch of prototype boilers from Worcester Bosch and Baxi that can operate on 100% hydrogen, as well as burning natural gas. These ‘hydrogenready’ boilers are now set to be rolled out on extensive field trials which will pave the way for the step change away from carbonintense, methane-based gas to effectively carbon-free hydrogen.
As more hydrogen gets fed into the gas grid, the boilers will be able to function seamlessly.
And when the whole grid is 100% hydrogen the boilers will be ready. This will result in what is being described by the manufacturers as a simple answer to not discarding the whole heating system in order to achieve low- and zero-carbon heating solutions.
With 85% of UK homes on the gas grid, changing away from it (to an electrical heating solution) presents a near impossible infrastructure, resource and feasibility challenge. Aiming towards a hydrogen future could be the most efficient path.
Now, where will this hydrogen come from I hear you ask? Well, Hynet, a major new project for the production and industrial use of hydrogen, just south of Ellesmere Port, has recently been awarded £13million in government funding. Of this, £7.5million will go to the development of a new, low-carbon hydrogen production plant which will produce 3TWH of hydrogen per year. It will capture and store
David Hilton is an expert in sustainable building and energy efficiency, and is a director of Heat and Energy Ltd more than 95% of the carbon it creates which totals over 600,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
Hydrogen will be distributed via a new pipeline being developed by Cadent to industrial manufacturing sites for Pilkington Glass and Unilever. The adoption of hydrogen by the industrial sector will then bring the costs down so that Hynet can also deliver hydrogen to domestic customers in the North by 2024.
The boiler manufacturers have developed the technology and the infrastructure is being invested in and built. Hydrogen is no longer a hypothetical solution — it is a reality in the UK.
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The boiler manufacturers have developed the technology and the infrastructure is being invested in and built. Hydrogen is no longer a hypothetical solution, it is a reality