Hydrogen faces a diminishing future as a heating and cooking fuel
Key Takeaways:
Energy utilities’ plans to blend hydrogen with methane—or convert entirely to hydrogen—for home heating and cooking, are out of touch with the limitations of hydrogen and the risks posed by home use.
Burning hydrogen in homes for heat and cooking purposes poses health and safety risks for residents, and is an inefficient way to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
Both heat pumps and energy efficiency are positioned to present robust market competition to hydrogen, and hydrogen availability is likely to be limited.
Taxpayer-subsidized hydrogen hubs and private hydrogen production developments should not be designed to rely on home heating and cooking as a target market.
Energy utilities’ plans to blend hydrogen and methane for home heating and cooking purposes are out of touch with the limitations of hydrogen and the risks posed by home use, as outlined in a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The report’s findings show that burning hydrogen poses health and safety risks for residents and is an inefficient way to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
At a time when energy utilities are planning to expand hydrogen use in the home, IEEFA’s report outlines why a realistic assessment of the unfavorable market forces should lead utilities away from hydrogen and towards more affordable and readily deployable energies like wind and solar.
“Not only does burning hydrogen in homes pose a health and safety risk but it will also delay electrification, resulting in the prolonged combustion of gas in homes,” said Suzanne Mattei, IEEFA energy policy analyst and co-author of the report. “Plans to use hydrogen in residential buildings also overlook the challenges hydrogen use is facing due to market competition and infrastructure challenges.”
Plans that rely on hydrogen use in the home are more wishful thinking than real planning. Taxpayer-subsidized hydrogen hubs and private hydrogen production developments should not rely on home heating and cooking as a target market. The costs and burdens are not justified by the limited impact that hydrogen use is likely to have, especially in blended form, on carbon dioxide emissions.
Hydrogen is the most ubiquitous chemical on earth, and the main technology proposed for its use—combustion—is not new. But the chemical is hard to manage. It requires enormous infrastructure development and significantly expanded monitoring. Hydrogen has not become a leading energy source because the barriers to its use are substantial and the benefits are limited. Because of the environmental and safety risks, hydrogen is particularly ill-suited for use in the home.
Hydrogen as an energy source is not ready for prime time, and utilities should focus on already available, safe and deployable energy sources.
