A UK-wide conversion to hydrogen gas will reduce heat emissions by a minimum of 73% as well as supporting decarbonisation of transport and localised electrical generation. The report has been launched by the North of England’s gas distributer, Northern Gas Networks (NGN), Kiwa Gastec, Amec Foster Wheeler and Wales & West Utilities.
The report says that a hydrogen gas grid could use the existing underground gas pipes already installed in the UK, and that household appliances can be converted to run on hydrogen with far less disruption and expense than converting to alternative energy sources.
Dan Sadler said: “Households won’t be required to buy new appliances. The conversion process will be similar to that carried out in the 1960s and 70s when 40 million appliances across 14 million households were converted from town gas to natural gas. We’d have special teams, working street by street to make the conversion as smooth as possible for customers with minimal impact in the homes and the highways”.
Welcoming the report, Department for Energy and Climate Change Chief Scientific Adviser John Loughhead OBE, said: “Meeting the challenge of the Climate Change Act is a huge technical and business challenge. The H21 Leeds City Gate project has usefully explored one possible contribution to meeting this challenge. DECC, and wider UK government, are looking forward to seeing the full findings of the project in the final report.”
