Andy Prendergast’s letter about green hydrogen (19 April) repeated many of the debunked myths peddled by the oil and gas industry. A recent extensive study by Energy Systems Catapult clearly proved that no property type is fundamentally unsuitable for heat pumps, while hydrogen for domestic heating has been rubbished by dozens of independent studies, as Dr Jan Rosenow’s research shows.
The real risk is not the domestic industrial base that Mr Prendergast notes, but the delayed action and lack of clear strategy driven by the constant water-muddying and myth-peddling by vested interests that are out of sync with reality. If we do end up with hydrogen providing domestic heating, the real risk is an expensive, unjust transition that risks fuel poverty en masse – or, more likely, the UK’s failure to achieve its decarbonisation targets.
Jonty Haynes
Principal analyst, Regen
• Andy Prendergast’s letter on hydrogen as a fuel for heating homes makes no physical or economic sense. “Green” hydrogen can indeed be manufactured with electricity produced from renewables and nuclear, and is truly zero-carbon. But if that electricity is used to heat houses directly with heat pumps, the process is typically four times more energy-efficient than the green hydrogen route.
Hydrogen has a possible future role in powering heavy transport, and as a means of storing energy. However, only gas companies and their employees are pressing for hydrogen as a domestic fuel.
Philip Steadman
UCL Energy Institute
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