Summary of our argument:
- One of the biggest challenges in decarbonisation of the UK economy is domestic heating.
- There is overwhelming evidence against use of hydrogen for heating and in favour of using heat pumps and district heating networks.
- The UK government’s current policy is that heat pumps are the best way to heat houses. This is an environmentally-sound approach to decarbonising heating which minimises energy consumption, minimises carbon emissions and minimises operating costs.
- The ‘hydrogen-ready boilers’ provision of the Boiler Efficiency Standards bill will stop consumers from installing heat pumps. At the point of boiler replacement, consumers will believe that installing a hydrogen-ready boiler is sufficient action to decarbonise their heating system.
- In reality, it is unlikely that hydrogen will ever be used to replace fossil gas for home heating because of its comprehensive disadvantages, particularly in terms of cost, and the necessary large government subsidies that will be needed to keep consumers out of energy poverty.
- Consequently, the ‘H2-ready boilers’ regulation will undermine the existing environmentally-sound heat pump policy
Read the full submission here.
