We must heat our homes with a hydrogen gas boiler to meet legally binding net zero goals and lower the carbon emissions from natural gas heating. Natural gas-fired heating can be replaced with hydrogen heating, a low-carbon option that could be sent to homes through the current gas network.
You can’t buy or build a boiler that is ready for hydrogen. Manufacturers of hydrogen boilers, like Baxi and Worcester Bosch, have made samples that work, though.
To prepare for the future, you can still buy modern boilers that can work with a hydrogen blend, even though you still need to install a boiler that is ready for hydrogen.
Why is An Alternative to Gas Heating Needed?
The price of petrol will continue to rise because extracting fossil fuels from the ground has become difficult. The UK government’s goal is that 2050 the country will have no more carbon emissions.
However, gas is still used in many homes in the UK for heating and hot water. People often say that heat pumps and other renewable heating systems are a good way to avoid using gas because they don’t release carbon dioxide into the air. Replacing all gas boilers with green systems would be very hard and costly.
So, instead of changing the current heating systems, using a fuel with low carbon emissions would make more sense. Hydrogen is one fuel that can heat homes and water with this kind of boiler.
What is a Hydrogen Boiler?
Boilers running on hydrogen would function similarly to those running on gas. The primary distinction is its ability to heat a house using gas and hydrogen. In addition, hydrogen boilers would be connected to the gas grid and erected in the same manner as gas boilers. This would make it possible to supply the fuel to the boiler when heating and hot water are needed. Most internal parts would function identically, while a few must be switched to accommodate hydrogen.
Like with LPG boilers, Gas Safe registered engineers will be trained to install date-only hydrogen boilers should the gas network ever be switched to this type of system.
How Does a Hydrogen Heating System Work?
The primary gas source brings hydrogen into the boiler like natural gas in a gas-fired heating system.
After that, hydrogen from the air is mixed with it and burned. Since hydrogen is very explosive, flame control systems stop too much gas flow.
The burning process produces hot flue gas. This gas moves heat to cold water through a heat exchanger. The new hot water can then be used to provide hot water whenever needed through the pipes in the house. Dangerous gases can escape through a chimney pipe.
What is a Hydrogen Blend?
When hydrogen is added to the gas source, you have a hydrogen blend. In other words, it would be a mix of hydrogen and natural gas. The hydrogen in the gas would not be more than 20%. That’s 20:80 in favour of natural gas.
Advantages of Hydrogen Boilers
Hydrogen holds many of the answers in the search for a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels. Hydrogen boilers have several benefits. Let’s dive into it!
Familiar Heating Systems
By switching from gas to hydrogen, people could keep heating their homes, generally with a boiler, while reducing carbon emissions. Installing a green energy system, which most people need to learn more about, would be the other option.
Kinder on the Environment Than Natural Gas
Fossil fuels are burned in our boilers, releasing carbon into the air, which is bad for the planet. Hydrogen doesn’t make carbon when it burns; it only makes water and heat. Even if we used a mix of natural gas and hydrogen, we could reduce carbon emissions by a large amount.
No Need to Replace the Infrastructure
Natural gas and hydrogen could use the same pipes, fittings, and boiler, so there would be little need to spend money to change the infrastructure. Many boilers could still be used even if the switch happened today. This would save people money when buying a new heating system.
Highly Efficient Fuel
Hydrogen has a lot of energy. There is the same amount of energy in 1kg of hydrogen as in 2.8 kg of petrol.
Disadvantages of Hydrogen
Despite hydrogen’s many benefits, several challenges must be overcome before switching to a hydrogen network is likely to be possible.
Hydrogen Production is Expensive (at the moment)
One big reason for the low use of hydrogen-ready boilers in the UK is their high cost. Making hydrogen in large enough amounts to meet demand is an expensive process. Electricity can be used to electrolyse water, which separates it into hydrogen and oxygen. Another way to make hydrogen is through Steam Methane Reforming.
Hydrogen Production Can Release Carbon If not Captured
When hydrogen is used in boilers, it doesn’t give off carbon, but making hydrogen can. To solve this problem, low-carbon ways of making things need to be found. For instance, electrolysis can’t use fossil fuels to power itself; it has to use energy from wind or solar farms.
In SMR, natural gas methane is heated with steam and a catalyst, but this makes carbon and hydrogen. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) systems must make this method low-carbon and stop the carbon from entering the air.
Need a New Boiler?
Get your A-rated Boiler installation covered under the ECO4 Scheme.
Check your Eligibility Now
How Much Would a Hydrogen Boiler Cost?
Hydrogen boiler prices have not been set yet. But top boiler makers like Baxi, Ideal, Vaillant, and Worcester Bosch have said they won’t cost more than a gas boiler of the same size.
So, a boiler ready for hydrogen costs between £500 and £3,000 before it is installed.
Prices for boilers vary depending on the brand, model, and type. The most common type of boiler is a combo boiler ready for hydrogen. Other kinds of boilers are normal boilers and system boilers. The best boiler for your home will depend on your current heating system, property type, and how much heat and hot water you need.
Hydrogen-ready boiler costs are on the chart below:
Type of Boiler | Average cost of boiler excluding installation | Approximate total cost of boiler fully installed |
Combi | £500 – £2,000 | £1,000 – £3,000 |
System | £500 – £2,500 | £1,000 – £3,500 |
Conventional | £500 – £2,750 | £1,000 – £3,750 |
Our guide to new boiler costs gives a well-rounded idea of how much you’ll pay for a new boiler.
Are Hydrogen Boilers Available to Buy?
You can’t buy a hydrogen burner yet, but all new boilers can work with a certain amount of hydrogen. Baxi, Worcester Bosch and Ideal, three boiler makers, are already working on making boilers that can use hydrogen. It’s possible for these boilers to heat a home with natural gas. But if the change to hydrogen happened, the boiler could still work with just hydrogen after a quick visit from a heating engineer.
Many gas boilers will work with a hydrogen mix, but not all will work singly. This is when hydrogen is added to the gas to mix the two together.
Make Your Home Heating More Efficient Today
Even though hydrogen boilers aren’t ready for houses yet, you don’t have to wait to make your home more energy-efficient. These days’ condensing gas boilers work very well and can warm your home. You might even lower your heating bills and the amount of carbon dioxide you release into the air.
On the other hand, you could use a heat pump, sun thermal system, or biomass boiler, which all produce less carbon. These heating systems get power from clean, green sources and don’t put carbon into the air.
Summary
Naturally, gas and hydrogen have the same amount of energy, but hydrogen has more energy per unit of mass. It does, however, have less energy per unit of space.
It’s best to have a hydrogen-ready boiler because it can keep using natural gas until hydrogen gas is ready. This will allow the whole country to switch to a low-carbon energy source in a planned way, with almost no impact on home heating.
One of the best things about hydrogen is that changing the power source is all you have to do. This makes rolling it out across the country much easier and faster. It also avoids the costs and learning curve of households adopting completely new heating systems.
Frequently Asked Questions
Hydrogen is more costly to generate and distribute than gas. Therefore, a hydrogen boiler will likely cost more than a gas-fuelled boiler.
Almost all newly manufactured gas boilers can run on a ‘hydrogen blend.’ Hydrogen makes up 20% of the fuel used in a hydrogen blend boiler, and natural gas makes up 80%.
Hydrogen boilers are supposed to run as long as traditional gas-fired boilers, which are between 10 to 15 years old. While they remain in the testing and production phases, it’s unclear exactly how long they will last once they become available.
Get Your ECO4 Grant
Simply enter your postal code and answer a few questions, we’ll handle the rest!
Recent Blogs
Share Blog