Hydrogen-ready boilers are a lifeline for heating in Europe
Boilers that are hydrogen-ready are a lifeline for heating with fossil fuel in Europe. The notion that we have an ample supply of clean bioenergy or green hydrogen that will be adequate to replace fossil fuels for heating is ludicrous, according to Jan Rosenow.
Although the fossil fuel heating business is attempting to promote hydrogen boilers as renewable, only a very small portion of hydrogen is not eco friendly, a legislative clarity is requited to stop that greenwashing of heating technology, according to Jan.
The Regulatory Assistance Project(RAP) , an independent organisation advocating the switch to renewable energy is led by jan as its director of European programmes.
The heating sector is in disarray. Governments throughout Europe have set phase-out dates for the installation of fossil fuel heating system in response to the need to decarbonise energy consumption and the gas problem brought on by the conflict in Ukraine, something that EU legislators are also thinking about.
There is a worrying opposition that tries to maintain the status quo despite the urgent need to decarbonise and eliminate fossil fuels. Enter “hydrogen-ready” or “renewable fuel-ready” boilers, the newest effort by the fossil fuel heating industry to impede clean heating.
A worrying opposition on hydrogen boilers
Some members of the European Parliament advocated that boilers certified to run on renewable fuels must not be deemed fossil heating systems during discussions on the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive EPBD
‘Renewable fuels’ might refer to hydrogen or biomass-based fuels like biogas and bio-oil, both of which are seen to have very little room for expansion.
The idea would permit the construction of fossil fuel heating systems as long as they could, in principle, also run on renewable fuels one day, as opposed to mandating that all new buildings be fitted with clean heating systems, such as heat pumps, or be connected to district heating.
A hydrogen-ready boiler has the drawback of still using fossil fuels if there is no clean hydrogen available to feed it. Only 0.04% of the hydrogen produced worldwide at the moment is green hydrogen.
Despite the fact that the EU’s own study predominantly identifies heat pumps and district heating as the fundamental clean heating technologies, the incumbent EU hearting sector has suggested hydrogen or renewable ready boilers.
We’ve seen these strategies before: when the coal sector was pressed to decrease emissions, it pledged to use “clean coal” that used carbon capture and storage(CCS).
Clean coal and oil used carbon capture storage
After then, clean coal received substantial policy backing and received much media and policymaker attention. Construction of CCS-ready coal plants was the aim.
One of 115 megawatt int of the Boundary Dam Power Station in Saskatchenwan, Canada, is the sole commercially operational facility left despite years of pilot programmes and significant public investment in coal power plants suing CCS.
Its main objective is to offer the Weyburn Oil Field a low-cost source of carbon dioxide for better oil recovery. The only commercially running coal power station using CCS in the United States, Petra Nova, shut in 2021 after receiving $163 million in public subsidies via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
There is not much to show for the £587 million the European Union spent to encourage the development of clean oil. If there is anything we can learn from the history of clean coal, it is that even the highest hopes and promises made by established companies do not always translate into success.
What we work and what won’t already is known. We already know that using hydrogen to heat houses is more costly yet, less effective, and ecologically hazardous than other, more reliable options.
This conclusion has been reached after more than 30 independent research. The only zero-carbon type of hydrogen, green hydrogen produced form renewable power, will already increase production for use in industries where less expensive alternatives are not accessible.
We also know that the development potential of any biomass-based heat source is constrained by worries about resource availability and sustainability. The Fitfor55 package’s impact evaluations by the commission do in fact acknowledge this.
Fit for 55 package is a set of proposals for new EU legislation with which the EU and its 27 member states plan to achieve the climate goal of reducing EU emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
EU countries are working on new legislation to achieve this goal and make the EU climate neutral by 2050.
It seems improbable that we will have adequate quantities of clean bioenergy or green hydrogen to completely replace fossil fuels for heating. However, district heating and off-the-shelf heat pumps may quickly and affordably reduce the demand for primary energy and greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the International Energy Agency, we should stop putting in new fossil fuel boilers after 2025. There is no assurance that hydrogen will ever flow via gas distribution networks, and it is fairly doubtful, while the supply of biomass and bio oil will always be constrained.
Hydrogen-ready boiler with decarbonisation for real clean heating
Therefore it is a probable that the majority of established fossil fuel heating systems will always use fossil fuels. Proven solutions that decrease carbon emissions right now include heat pumps and clean district heating, and as the grid and heating sources improve cleaner each year, those emission reductions will only get bigger in the future.
The EPBD(Energy Performance of Buildings Directive EU) could provide a remedy. The energy crisis that has mostly been caused by rising petrol costs is still ongoing. With the present EPBD, the EU has the ability to reroute this plainly significant issue given the volume of gas utilised for heating.
To guarantee that funding is directed toward the quick adoption of real clean heating technology, it is essential to provide the energy sector and member states with clarity and direction on heating .
The planned greenwashing of fossil fuel boilers has the danger of impending development in the building industry, where quick development is required.
Source: mastodonenergy
