This article is written by Aliaksei Patonia, Research Fellow in Commercial Hydrogen Development at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

  • The problem: While the number of most hydrogen projects around the world is growing, those that promote its use for heating residential buildings seem to be facing a block of low social acceptance.
  • Why it matters: If society does not accept hydrogen for heating, companies and governments promoting it will lose a lot of money.
  • The solution: That is why securing social acceptance of hydrogen technologies is crucial for their successful implementation.

In September, it was revealed that, in an attempt to increase the sales of their gas boilers, the advisers of British Gas – the UK’s biggest energy supplier – had been allegedly misleading local customers by making unrealistic promises about their product and claims about heat pumps (an alternative running on electricity). In particular, the company’s representatives actively encouraged buyers to prefer their piece of equipment, as it was described to be the option ultimately able to cut energy bills by running on hydrogen – a new fuel that was supposedly selected by the British government as a net-zero carbon substitute to fossil fuels for residential heating. Since none of the above statements were true, except for the fact that hydrogen does not emit carbon when burned, as a result of this media investigation, the company had to reconsider their statements and withdraw the false claims from their webpage. At the same time, British Gas denied misleading customers and suggested the individual advisers were at fault.

Hydrogen (H2) – the most abundant element of the universe that only produces water as its combustion product, has most recently been viewed as the “Swiss Army knife” of net-zero carbon future.

While this case could be simply viewed as another example of unfair competition, it could also signify a desperate attempt of a major player to retain the market that will most likely be lost in the future. In particular, although the UK government is supposed to make the final decision on the use of hydrogen for heating residential buildings by 2026, this debate seems to be dead already, at least in the public domain, as the country’s energy minister officially recognised that hydrogen for heating and cooking is “unlikely to be the way forward” and heat pumps represent a better and more efficient option. At least in the UK.

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Hydrogen for heating: a great idea or absurd?

In an attempt to decarbonise the most polluting sectors of national economies, governments and businesses around the world have been looking for technologies that would allow for a dramatic cut in carbon dioxide emissions. In this respect, hydrogen (H2) – the most abundant element of the universe that only produces water as its combustion product, has most recently been viewed as the “Swiss Army knife” of net-zero carbon future. This is so because, when generated from water by renewable power through the process called electrolysis, it may serve as a carbon-neutral fuel, feedstock and energy storage option that could minimise (if not completely eliminate) our need for hydrocarbons. Being gaseous under ambient conditions, hydrogen has therefore also been viewed as a substance that could replace natural gas where it has so far been used. Here, one such “obvious” area is that of residential heating, which is estimated to be responsible for around 14% of all carbon emissions in the UK.

To test whether hydrogen could replace natural gas for heating, the UK government, together with gas distributors, decided to pilot the real-world rollout of H2 in domestic heating and cooking in several areas across the country. While the idea seemed reasonable and manageable on paper, the very first heating trial in the village of Whitby had to be scrapped after protests from the local communities.

In fact, after a safety assessment conducted on behalf of the government concluded that using hydrogen at home would be about four times more dangerous than using natural gas, the villagers accused the contractors of the project of dishonesty and not revealing how unsafe hydrogen appliances would really be. Although, because there are no other similar projects in operation to refer to, and checking the real risks and threats to the residents appears to be challenging, the campaign to win public support for such initiatives among the Brits seems to have been lost.

Social acceptance of hydrogen: A major roadblock?

Alongside the news from the UK moving away from hydrogen boilers, recent reports from the Netherlands look extremely surprising, as this country seems to be going the opposite direction. This summer the city of Haringvliet from South Holland overwhelmingly backed the collective switch from gas to hydrogen heating. This decision looks even more unconventional if one considers that, in contrast to the UK, where the main drivers behind the transition to H2 were gas companies and the government, this initiative was prepared and delivered by a group of local residents passionate about finding sustainable solutions for some of the environment’s most pressing issues. Since this is the first time that any local community in the world has preferred having hydrogen over natural gas in their heating system, if successful, the Haringvliet project could potentially create precedent that may reverse the odds of projects similar to that of Whitby so that hydrogen for heating could become a more socially acceptable phenomenon. At the moment, however, it is not clear if the Dutch story will ultimately end the British way.

In any case, although at the moment, social acceptance of hydrogen initiatives is not even on the list of key priorities for most of the H2 investors and policymakers, it looks like it may become a major roadblock on the way to success. This is particularly important to realise before millions of dollars are put at stake to support something that may cause public discontent and social unrest. While the design costs only for the UK Whitby Pilot Scheme were estimated to be over $9 million, the total financial losses from similar initiatives around the world may be even more impressive if the British experience is not taken into account.

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