Do you still light your cooker with an old-fashioned match?
Now's the time to put an end to that! This is the new age of high-speed gas. 60 years
on and it's no longer natural gas that's the exciting clean burning fuel of the future.
Instead it's hydrogen making those claims. But can we believe the hype?
In 1967 the first natural gas from the north sea was brought into the UK kick-starting a 10-year
switchover from coal gas, also called town gas, over to this high speed gas. This nationwide
operation required an army of gas men to convert over 20 million appliances to run on this new
cleaner fuel. Flash forward 50 years and we now know this miracle fuel is responsible for a big
chunk of carbon emissions. So gas companies are suggesting we switch over again from natural gas
to hydrogen. And Cadent along with Northern Gas Networks have built a whole house to demonstrate
this experimental technology. You wouldn't know the difference here. The flame is a slightly
different colour but otherwise the hydrogen cooks and heats exactly like natural gas. And that's the
main attraction for consumers. They are basically designed and engineered to be exactly the same
as your natural gas boiler. So they are installed in exact same way. I believe the maintenance is
very, very similar and your user experience will be the same as a natural gas boiler.
At the moment we don't know how much hydrogen will cost. However, the four big boiler manufacturers
have promised that hydrogen-ready boilers when they're brought up to scale will cost no more
than the existing natural gas boilers. On the supply side researchers are confident that they
could easily pump hydrogen through the existing infrastructure. Because we've done it before.
Town's gas was actually 50% hydrogen anyway and the majority of our network hasn't changed
since the 60s. We just need to make doubly sure that we're happy with our network receiving 100%
hydrogen. In practical terms this would mean a great two-part switchover a little bit like
the 70s. First of all, natural gas only boilers would stop being sold so that when your existing
boiler broke down you'd need to buy a hydrogen ready boiler. Now to start with these would run
on the existing natural gas supply then when the local network moved to hydrogen engineers would
simply adjust the boilers in the area to burn hydrogen. So if they're so similar why is hydrogen
better than natural gas? When hydrogen burns in pure oxygen it only produces water vapor and heat.
However, when the hydrocarbons like methane in natural gas burns in oxygen
they also produce carbon dioxide. In fact they produce so much that 17% of our carbon
emissions come from heating homes. However, unlike electrical boilers burning hydrogen in
air will still produce nitrogen oxides - a major contributor to urban air pollution and
climate change. So if we did switch to hydrogen, where would we get it all from? Now hydrogen
is often referred to by colours to explain how it's made. So let's meet the top dogs...
Meet Mr Green Hydrogen. He comes from electrolysis powered by renewable electricity. That means it
can be carbon neutral but for now he's the most expensive. Mr Pink Hydrogen - he does the same
electrolysis but powered by nuclear energy. Not renewable but a whole lot less carbon than gas.
Mr Grey Hydrogen - he's a bad'un. He reforms natural gas to make hydrogen but releases a load
of carbon dioxide in the process. He's actually the way most hydrogen is produced today. Then Mr
Blue Hydrogen. Same as Mr Grey but he captures that CO2 before it goes into the atmosphere...
Hang on a minute! Those seem to rely on a lot of natural gas. No wonder then that some of the
biggest backers of a hydrogen future are actually the gas companies. They claim that capturing the
CO2 can reduce the harm but that doesn't stop blue hydrogen from being non-renewable and reliant on
there being somewhere to store millions of tons of carbon dioxide. Today only a tiny proportion of
all of hydrogen's production is green hydrogen so until we massively ramp up the amount of renewable
electricity generation, carbon capture and storage is probably the least worst option. We desperately
need to find a way to heat our homes in a carbon neutral way. Hydrogen is just one of many options
alongside heat pumps or electrical heating. Projects like the hydrogen home are great pieces
of research but the government isn't set to make a policy decision until 2026. Only time will tell
if the easy turn on and off ability of a hydrogen switch is worth the downsides or if cooking and
heating our homes with gas is an idea best left in the 60s. Fun fact: when natural gas was first
introduced one woman reportedly complained that it made her food taste bland. It turns
out that she'd stopped adding salt because she believed that the north sea gas would make her
food salty enough. For more sensible advice sign up to the free Which? sustainability newsletter.