As we await the delayed publication of the UK government's Hydrogen Strategy, and the even more delayed Heat and Buildings Strategy, Regen has been giving some thought to the question of whether hydrogen could become a widespread heating fuel, in the manner of natural gas.
While there is broad consensus that hydrogen could have an important role to play in the decarbonisation of key industrial processes and some areas of heavy transportation, there is currently no agreement, and a lot of rancour, about hydrogen for domestic heating. Advocates of hydrogen for heating argue that, as a gas, hydrogen can be delivered to people's homes via the gas network and burnt in a converted boiler, much like natural gas.
Regen's view is that the challenge of hydrogen heating is far more complex and that, far from a certainty, it is unlikely that hydrogen will become a ubiquitous heating fuel for the majority of domestic consumers. But rather than try and make this decision now, based on partial analysis and a lot of lobbying, government policy makers and regional stakeholders need to ask themselves 8 key questions, which we explore in the following paper.
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