How to heat homes with zero carbon
CARBON emissions from heating could be cut by installing hybrid technology that does not require major changes to people’s homes, Government climate advisers have suggested, following tests in Bridgend.
The potential for hybrid heat pumps – that use electricity most of the time and then hydrogen to meet peak demand on cold winter days – has been a “lightbulb moment”, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said.
The CCC said the system has been tested in a pilot in Bridgend, with positive feedback from households.
While the Government has had success in cutting emissions from electricity, carbon from heating buildings has been a much more intractable problem because of the impact on people’s lives of changing domestic heating systems.
But a new report from the CCC said installing hybrid heat pumps for buildings on the gas grid, along with boosting energy efficiency and making new homes more efficient, could cut emissions to near zero by 2050.
Hybrid versions of heat pumps, which use the UK’s increasingly lowcarbon electricity to extract heat from the air, can be retrofitted around existing boilers and do not require changes to radiators.
The system would use gas on the coldest winter days to ensure the same performance as existing heating systems, while cutting emissions in the near term, the report said.
The remaining gas supply could be switched to hydrogen at a later date to almost completely remove fossil fuel use in buildings.
And the use of hybrid heat pumps would need far less hydrogen than a wholesale switch of the gas grid to the cleaner fuel would require.
The report also found hydrogen could help cut fossil fuels from heavy goods vehicles and industrial processes, and replace gas power to manage peaks in an electricity system with a high amount of renewables.
Hydrogen would be generated from natural gas using technology to permanently capture and store carbon underground, a more cost-effective way to scale up hydrogen production than using electricity to create it.
CCC deputy chairwoman Baroness Brown said: “Hybrid heat pumps are the best of both worlds. Heat pumps on their own haven’t been very successful in this country.”
But the hybrid option “we think is a solution to what seems to be a knotty problem” that would not inconveniance consumers, she said.
“When we were able to do this modelling, it was a bit of a lightbulb moment for us.”
The new analysis has found it would no more expensive than a full switch of the gas grid to hydrogen or a move over to electrifying heating.
The CCC said the Government must develop a strategy for removing carbon emissions from heating in the next three years, including clear signals on future use of the gas grid and support for carbon capture and storage.
Pilot schemes and public engagement will also be needed to communicate the need to cut carbon from heating and reassure people hydrogen is safe, the report said.
CCC chairman Lord Deben said: “The future now rests on Government making a quick decision and fully committing to low-carbon heat within the next three years.”