Is hydrogen best suited to 'heavy industry' or does it have a future in our homes?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Recently, Grant Shapps publicly u-turned on his opinions around hydrogen for domestic energy use, stating that hydrogen is best suited to ‘heavy industry’ rather than as a means to heat our homes. This got us thinking: is hydrogen best suited to ‘heavy industry’ or does it have a future in our homes?

Is hydrogen best suited to 'heavy industry' or does it have a future in our homes?

Shapps, who has been in charge of energy policy in the UK since October 2022, overseeing  efforts by the government and gas industry to pioneer a hydrogen heating trial across 2,000 properties, has reportedly changed his views on hydrogen since coming into office and - rather than as a source of heat for homes here in the UK, thinks hydrogen is better suited to heavy industry, despite domestic trials still going ahead.

This, it seems, is due to 2 key factors:

1. the cost of hydrogen

2. the efficiency of hydrogen

With many claiming that hydrogen is extremely inefficient - where a boiler using hydrogen uses around 6 times more electricity than a heat pump to create 1 unit of heat.

This, compounded by the concept of a ‘hydrogen levy’ which would serve to increase already ‘sky high’ household bills, brought in to subsidise the development of clean hydrogen in the UK, means public perception of hydrogen for domestic use is undoubtedly negative despite hydrogen being considered a clean, renewable energy source.

But what does this mean for industry?

Our government considers it vital to the decarbonisation of UK industry - especially as industry contributed to 16% of all carbon emissions in 2018 as stated in the UK’s Hydrogen Strategy of August 2021.

Within this strategy, the UK Government also state -

“Hydrogen can support the deep decarbonisation of the UK economy, particularly in ‘hard to electrify’ UK industrial sectors, and can provide greener, flexible energy across power, heat and transport. Moreover, the UK’s geography, geology, infrastructure and expertise make it particularly suited to rapidly developing a low carbon hydrogen economy, with the potential to become a global leader on hydrogen and secure economic opportunities across the UK.”

This will be partly due to the fact that hydrogen is already used within UK industry and therefore replacing it with a low carbon hydrogen - or green hydrogen - should be a fairly uncomplicated process.

Beyond this, green hydrogen can also provide an alternative to natural gas and other high carbon fuels currently used for industrial heating.

This, alongside it’s affordability during the beginning of the UK’s cost of living crisis, when hydrogen became much more affordable than oil, therefore sparking a flurry of investment & investment opportunities in hydrogen development, especially for industrial use where hydrogen is already in use and therefore the infrastructure exists to introduce a low carbon alternative.

What makes hydrogen so expensive for domestic use?

The process of producing, storing and transporting hydrogen is costly due to its instability and low density, meaning it requires a lot of pressure to be both stored & transported safely, contributing to its higher overall price. What’s more, it has less energy per unit volume than fossil fuels, making it as arguably inefficient as it is expensive.

Surely then, Shapps is correct and the key to ensuring low carbon or green hydrogen has a place in the future of heating our homes lies in significant investment, research and development of hydrogen storage and transport? But, for now, using hydrogen to decarbonise the UK should remain focused on industry where it can be most effective - in turn, effective use within industry could also serve to sway public perception and opinion which, the renewable energy sector as a whole knows from experience, is also a resounding factor in the success of any new technology or initiative.