News

Dec 21, 2023

Burning the public: The hydrogen heating pipe dream

Hydrogen heating is likely to be a nichetechnology at best, as it is expected to

Hydrogen heating is likely to be a nichetechnology at best, as it is expected to be expensive, inefficient and poseshealth and safety hazards. Nevertheless, this investigation reveals that boilercompanies are engaged in misleading marketing campaigns to greenwash fossil gasboilers as ‘hydrogen ready’, while gas suppliers attempt to make consumers payfor hydrogen infrastructure and avoid a death spiral for their industry.

Gas boiler companies are greenwashing theirfossil-fuel-burning products with hydrogen or hydrogen-ready labels, despite manyadmitting that most will burn fossil gas for their lifetime, and concerns overhigh costs and health and safety questions that swirl around burning hydrogen.

Consumers may opt for the low upfront costsof a ‘hydrogen ready’ boiler believing that they are doing their part to reduceemissions. However, these boilers will either continue to burn fossil gas, orif there is a switch to hydrogen, they may be stung by high running costs,toxic emissions, and climate-warming impacts.

Only a quarter of gas distributors in Europeexpect to be "fully ready" to distribute 100% hydrogen by 2035, meaning thatowners of hydrogen-ready boilers might wait a decade and more for analternative fuel supply and continuing to burn carbon-emitting fossil gas.

Vaillant, one of the largest manufacturers working on hydrogenboilers admitsthat they do not expect homes to see hydrogen before the 2030s and "for someinstallations there will be no tangible benefit of their wall-hung boiler beinghydrogen ready as they may never see hydrogen in their lifetime." British Gas,a major UK gas supplier and boiler seller explainsthat any hydrogen ready boiler bought today "will probably use natural gas forall its working lifetime."

We also identified misleading adverts andmarketing from several major boiler manufacturers stating that the onlyemission from burning hydrogen is water, when in fact dangerous nitrogen oxides(NOx) are emitted. NOx emissions exacerbate respiratory problems like asthmaand have been linked to reduced cognitive performance, especially in children.

With more customers switching to more affordable and less pollutingheating systems, like electric heat pumps, fewer gas consumers will be left to payto maintain and convert the gas grid to hydrogen, piling on further costs. Thisin turn could prompt more customers to move away from gas, creating a spiralwhere the consumers least able to afford the upfront cost of switching or whoare otherwise unable to switch face very high costs.

An analysis of previously undisclosed European lobbying recordshas found that gas suppliers have lobbied to make customers pay for theexpansion and conversion of gas infrastructure necessary to carry hydrogen. Aprevious report by Element Energy estimates that such aswitch would cost all gas consumers €240bn – on top of alreadyhistorically-high bills.

Europe has an opportunity to move away fromburning fossil fuels in our homes, end our reliance on Russian gas imports andlimit our exposure to fossil fuel price crises. Government support needs to flow tothe best solutions that help limit greenhouse emissions and help consumers, notprop up the gas industry's hydrogen white elephants. Instead, new EU market rules should ensure the rapid phase out of gas use across allsectors by 2035.

The lobbying around hydrogen heating yet againshows that the fossil fuel industry has no place in setting climate and energypolicy. Instead, we need a Fossil Free Politics where fossil fuel interestshave been firewalled off from policy makers, similar to existing restrictionson tobacco lobbyists.

After decades of denial, delay and greenwashing over 270,000 Europeans have signed a European Citizens Initiativecalling for legislation prohibiting advertisements for fossil fuels, a ban thatcould prevent greenwashing of false solutions in the future. If the petition reaches one million signatures the European Commission will be legally obligedto respond.

The European Union is currently debating a newframework for gas markets. Rather than funnelling public money into falsesolutions policy makers working on the gas package should ensure: