It is completely ludicrous that anyone is still talking about hydrogen for home heating - it’s far less efficient, less safe, more expensive and less flexible than heat pumps. This report is the last nail in a coffin that is already more nail than coffin.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/21/hydrogen-boiler-home-heating-uk?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#climate #hydrogen

@helenczerski the village “selected” to experiment with this, near Ellesmere Port, all turned round and said no, even when offered all the appliances for free and to turn their houses back to how they weee before, for free.

It is such a silly thing to try and do.

@helenczerski it’s clearly the oil industry (‘brown hydrogen’) pushing this absurdity - my main concern is, will it continue under Starmer..?

@CrackedWindscreen @helenczerski hydrogen is plausible for heavy plant though right?

@tgtads @helenczerski And it really would make no sense otherwise. After all, if you were really pushing for sustainability, you would be pushing for synthetic fuels made from green hydrogen too. Allowing people to keep their existing infrastructure is sustainable, but I smell brown hydrogen as well, because adding synthfuel production to green hydrogen is much less effort than building it up in the first place. 😒

@helenczerski There was talk of a metropolitan hydrogen network in Bradford a couple of years ago, but thankfully it seems to have been replaced with a heat network powered by heat pumps. I'm very convinced that heat pumps, powered by low carbon renewable energy, are the future.

@neilturner @helenczerski The obsession with 100% heat pumps is a greenwashing scam. They know there's no way we can do this for every house. It will inevitably lead to millions of homes heated by fossil fuels for a long time. Not to mention where the electricity for all those heat pumps is suppose to come from. Right now, it is the grid, and it is not zero emissions.

@Hypx @neilturner Heat pumps are completely normal in many countries. They think we’re crazy for not having them. It’s a highly workable solution, and a far more effective use of energy.

@helenczerski @neilturner They are only widespread in countries with huge amounts of hydropower. There are very rare elsewhere. There are huge challenges before they can be widespread.

These policies don't even look at thermal heat pumps! They're just electrification fetishists for the most part. So these policies are really about something else, not serious attempts to fight climate change.