Which solution is most viable to achieve the net zero goals? Here we discuss the current arguments and limitations of each.
With the UK government aiming for the country to be net zero by 2050, it’s clear that among other things, domestic heating will need to be decarbonised.
Right now, almost 80% of UK households rely upon natural gas boilers to heat their home.
Clearly, the current situation is a far cry from what is needed to help make the UK net zero.
Nonetheless, renewable options are increasing in popularity, with a number of households now employing the likes of heat pumps and hybrid heat pumps.
But how do the options of hydrogen and heat pumps compare? and which is more likely to play a leading role in heating the homes of tomorrow?
Important: 100% hydrogen boilers are not yet an established technology and the UK government plans to make a decision on the role of hydrogen in the decarbonisation of heating in 2026.
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What are Hydrogen Boilers?
Currently, hydrogen boilers are only available on the market in the form of hydrogen-blend boilers.
These appliances still rely primarily on natural gas but can be fuelled by hydrogen up to an extent (usually 20%).
Quick jargon buster:
Hydrogen blend or mix-ready boiler - able to accept up to 20% hydrogen gas.
Hydrogen-ready boiler - able to accept 100% hydrogen gas (not yet available).
However, since prototypes are already in development, there are hopes that hydrogen-ready boilers, which are capable of running entirely on hydrogen, will enter the market in the years ahead.
Watch Heatable visiting the first home installed with 100% Hydrogen boilers in the UK in the video below:
Hydrogen is a super light and non-toxic gas which can be used to fuel boilers with a high level of efficiency.
There is a growing amount of interest in hydrogen as a domestic fuel in comparison to natural gas as it produces zero carbon.
Many argue that it can in theory be rolled out much faster than heat pumps as many argue that the existing gas infrastructure could be used.
What are Heat Pumps?
Heat pumps, on the other hand, harness the natural heat energy of the ground or air, absorbing it and effectively transferring this energy to heat a property.
It may do so directly by distributing warm air to heat up rooms throughout the property or indirectly by heating water which can then be used to heat rooms via radiators.
Just like hydrogen boilers, heat pumps themselves emit zero carbon themselves (however, as we will discuss, this doesn't nessarilly mean the electricity they use is generated 100% cleanly).
In either case, hydrogen boilers and heat pumps offer a renewable and far more eco-friendly means of heating households than natural gas boilers, LPG boilers or oil boilers.
Hydrogen vs Heat Pumps in the UK
Now that we’ve explained what hydrogen (as a heating fuel source) and heat pumps are and roughly how they work, it’s time to weigh these two options up and get a sense of which renewable heating source has the most potential.
Both hydrogen and heat pumps offer advantages that overlap and some which don’t.
For instance, both hydrogen and heat pumps are largely clean and renewable sources of heating a home and they are highly efficient, and they both have the potential to aid in creating a net zero UK.
However, for this section, we’ll primarily focus on the common arguments made as to what makes each option a great alternative to our current heating systems in ways that do not overlap.
The Case for Hydrogen Boilers
For starters, utilising hydrogen-blend and then eventually hydrogen-ready boilers en masse would arguably be a simpler transition away from a carbon-centric heating economy than having heat pumps installed in millions of homes across the UK.
Ultimately, hydrogen could potentially pose a lower level of consumer disruption than heat pumps.
Hydrogen would also come with a low to medium impact on the industry, whereas heat pumps would require significant changes in the industry and the up-skilling of 100,000s professionals.
Beyond that, having a hydrogen boiler installed is likely to be significantly cheaper than having a heat pump installed.
Currently, it’s likely to cost somewhere in the region of £12,000 to £35,000 to have a heat pump installed.
Even if you can benefit from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and have £5,000 to £6,000 cut from the total cost, heat pumps remain prohibitively expensive for many households.
Moreover, major boiler brands such as Worcester Bosch have stated that hydrogen-ready boilers will be no more expensive than natural gas boilers.
If this turns out to be true then hydrogen-ready boilers will be far more affordable to install for the average household.
In addition to the various benefits of hydrogen boilers for homeowners, the hydrogen heating economy would likely create far more jobs than a heating economy centred on the rise of heat pumps.
While heat pumps would need to be manufactured, installed and maintained, hydrogen boilers would require workers to generate usable hydrogen and distribute it via the network.
If hydrogen boilers ultimately play a major role in the future, they could end up creating thousands, if not tens of thousands of jobs in the decades ahead.
The Case for Heat Pumps
Despite the many indicators of hydrogen’s potential, there are nonetheless lots of reasons why heat pumps may actually be the better option.
For one, heat pumps are a lot safer than hydrogen boilers would be.
Just as natural gas boilers come with more risks than heat pumps, so would hydrogen boilers.
While it’s true that hydrogen does not come with the risk of carbon monoxide (in itself*), it still poses a risk of gas leaks leading to gas explosions.
Further, it's often argued that hydrogen, being a far more energy-dense gas, could significantly increase the number of gas explosions occurring annually in the UK.
That is unless significant steps are made to substantially improve the safety of the use of hydrogen in boilers and that of gas boilers in general.
Another major benefit of having a heat pump installed is that assuming you are currently using a natural gas boiler and if electricity becomes cheaper, it could one day potentially lower your heating bills.
This cannot be yet said of hydrogen. Yes, it’s true that hydrogen is more efficient than natural gas as a fuel source, but due to the cost of production, it would likely cost more for households to run their boilers entirely on hydrogen than natural gas, at least initially.
Hydrogen is also difficult to store and transport, whereas heat pumps rely on on-site energy from the ground or air.
Lastly, heat pumps would arguably be less reliant on a carbon-based infrastructure and so there is no risk that the gas infrastructure would continue to linger.
By this, we mean that if you were to have hydrogen-ready boilers installed en masse (which could be fuelled entirely by hydrogen or natural gas), carbon-based infrastructure remains in place.
This obviously poses the danger that many properties would continue to largely use natural gas despite having a hydrogen-capable boiler.
You might ask why? If hydrogen would be available?
People might do so if the cost of hydrogen remains higher or because of concerns related to the safety of hydrogen.
Heat pumps could potentially face as a similar issue, though, given that they rely on electricity which may or may not be generated using fossil fuels, this is thought to be less likely.
However, on the face of it, convincing people to use green energy suppliers over carbon-based suppliers seems an easier task than ensuring that households primarily use hydrogen over natural gas to fuel their hydrogen-ready boilers.
*Obviously if you were using a hydrogen-ready boiler that still, at least occasionally, uses natural gas as a fuel source to one degree or another, the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning would remain. It would not be as great a threat as now but this hazard would not be completely eliminated.
Our Verdict: Hydrogen vs. Heat Pumps
Both hydrogen and heat pumps have the potential to play significant roles in pushing the UK toward a net zero and eventually zero carbon future.
However, when you consider the various pros and cons of each option as well as their potential viability.
It does seem, at least for now, that heat pumps have a better chance of playing a significant role in the fight against climate change.
This is especially true at present since heat pumps are currently the only available low-carbon option available for the domestic market.
However, the reality is that there are several barriers to their widespread adoption, including their expense, performance issues and availability of trained installers.
In time, it is hoped that as demand increases, prices will decrease.
On the one hand, switching to a heating economy that is based primarily on hydrogen seems easier to achieve on paper.
However, unless the cost comes down and consumer safety concerns can better be addressed, it doesn’t seem likely that hydrogen will be the primary means of heating households in the next few decades.
We imagine that hydrogen blends and hydrogen-ready boilers will be significantly more common than they are now by 2050.
But at the end of the day, the government is already incentivising the installation of heat pumps and it seems likely that the cost of heat pumps will continue to come down.
For one, the government offers the BUS as a means of lowering the installation cost.
Secondly, there are plans to make it mandatory that new build properties cannot use a gas boiler and that they must be built compatible with low-carbon heating solutions such as heat pumps.
One drawback is that the government does not currently offer the BUS for hybrid heating systems.
If they were to extend the BUS to hybrid heating systems that use a heat pump and gas boiler, it could help accelerate the nationwide adoption of heat pumps.
More than likely the future heating economy will not be dominated by one heating solution as natural gas boilers dominate the heating sector today.
However, if we were to predict which of these two options will play a more significant role, we’d put our money on heat pumps, but we certainly wouldn’t bet the house!
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