The most common and economical way to produce hydrogen is to blast fossil fuels with high-temperature steam in a process known as reforming. On Earth it’s found as part of another compound, such as water or methane, and the separation process is fundamentally inefficient and wastes lots of valuable energy. The fundamental challenge with hydrogen is producing it in the scale we require. “But the more you drill into it the more expensive and complicated it becomes, and I think people are finally realising it doesn’t look good.” “To the uninitiated, hydrogen looks like a really simple idea,” says Richard Lowes, a researcher in heat decarbonisation at the University of Exeter. That may be true, but there’s also a danger that viewing hydrogen as a decarbonisation panacea perpetuates our reliance on fossil fuels and distracts us from more effective solutions like heat pumps. It’s easier to change the fuel than the system. The report considered the UK’s conversion from town gas to natural gas, which took place in the 1960s and ‘70s, and since then hydrogen has been touted as the easiest, most convenient solution for the future of heating.
The UK’s interest in using hydrogen to heat our homes dates back to around 2016, when a report by north of England’s gas distributor, Northern Gas Networks, confirmed that the conversion of the UK gas network to pure hydrogen was technically possible and economically viable. While this is nothing to sniff at, it leaves us with the same existential question: what is going to take us the rest of the way? While to many people pure hydrogen may feel like the logical answer, there’s a chasm between the rhetoric and the reality, which raises another important question: how much should we be bothering with it at all?
This goes to say that blending can only really ever be an interim measure until we find a more effective solution. But the catch is this: because hydrogen has a lower energy density per meter cubed of gas than methane, this would give us a maximum reduction in emissions from the grid of seven per cent - a drop in the ocean. If HyDeploy can prove, as it’s expected to do, that a blend can safely be utilised in the existing gas network, the same setup could be rolled out across the UK with reasonable ease to reduce carbon emissions and drive a market for hydrogen. Higher concentrations would require not only significant network and infrastructural upgrades, but also hydrogen-specific appliances and boilers. Importantly, it has required no changes to the existing pipes, boilers, and burners: there’s growing evidence that a blend of up to 20 per cent hydrogen with 80 per cent natural gas is compatible with existing infrastructure. It’s the first time that hydrogen, which emits mostly water when burned for energy, has been supplied through the UK gas grid since the ‘60s, when town gas – a composite made from burning coal that contained up to 60 per cent hydrogen – powered Britain. While some hope that hydrogen is the future of low-carbon heating, others argue that it should only ever be a stopgap in the frantic race to decarbonise the UK. Thompson resides in Winlaton, a small village in north-eastern England that is now at the forefront of a controversial new energy transition: beginning in August, the heating and cooking appliances in its 668 residential properties, school, and small businesses have been fueled partially by hydrogen. She smiled because she knew the hydrogen she’d been expecting had finally arrived. To her surprise, not only did it cook more quickly than usual, but the inner envelope of the flame on the gas stove was a bright orange rather than the usual blue. She’d just returned home from Gateshead, a short drive away, where she looks after elderly residents in sheltered flats, and she popped a pie in the oven for dinner. One evening in September, Elizabeth Thompson, 53, was enjoying a quiet evening at home with her husband.
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