If you’ve been following the heating industry in the UK or are simply concerned with the rising carbon emissions in the environment, you may be familiar with hydrogen boilers. These are an alternative solution for the typical gas boilers found in more than three-quarters of the homes in the UK currently.
While these hydrogen boilers are yet to hit the residential market on a large scale, there is still a lot of debate going on regarding how feasible they will be and whether they will have any benefits for the average consumer. Therefore, here’s a list of all the pros and cons of hydrogen boilers that you need to be aware of to make up your mind.
Pros of Hydrogen Boilers
As you will soon realize, hydrogen is a brilliant component that can provide various benefits in various sectors, be it for heating at home or fuelling a rocket to go into space. Here are all the advantages of hydrogen boilers and hydrogen fuel.
More Environment Friendly
First and foremost, hydrogen boilers, or hydrogen fuel in general are much more environment friendly in numerous aspects. The whole reason they are being researched and studied so much is because of their advantages for the world without any costs for the climate. For starters, hydrogen is a renewable energy source.
Currently, most boilers run on natural gas, LPG, propane or other such gases which come from fossil fuels. And as we all know, the planet is rapidly running out of fossil fuels which is why must switch to other resources as soon as possible.
Other than that, hydrogen is also more environmentally friendly as it produces no carbon. When you burn hydrogen fuel, all you get is heat and water. In comparison, burning fossil fuels releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment, which is rapidly destroying our climate and atmosphere.
More Efficient
Hydrogen fuel is also much more efficient than its fossil fuel counterparts. Hydrogen is incredibly dense and packed with much more energy. One kg of hydrogen can produce almost the same amount of energy as three kgs of fossil fuels. Therefore, you would need way less hydrogen to get the same amount of heat and energy. This is bound to affect your energy bills as well.
Doesn’t Require New Infrastructure
Even though there are other alternatives to heating appliances as well such as heat pumps and solar thermal units, the problem with these is that they are incredibly expensive and will require the government to invest additionally in new infrastructure.This makes them quite impractical. However, there is no such problem with hydrogen boilers and hydrogen fuel. These can run in the existing gas supply grid and reach consumers easily. They don’t require new infrastructure and therefore they can be implemented right away.
Similar Technology and Systems
Specifically talking about hydrogen boilers, what makes them so great is that they work quite similarly to your normal gas boilers. They burn, heat the water in the pipes, and provide you with heating and hot water in the house. Therefore, even inside your house, you won’t have to make any major changes to accommodate the new fuel. It can work just fine with your existing pipes and fittings. For more detail, you can ask your gas engineer to inspect your house and tell you accordingly if you need any work done.
Hydrogen is Relatively Non-Toxic
Hydrogen is also much safer than other fuels. Since it doesn’t produce any harmful gases, it is relatively non-toxic and safe to use inside your house. In comparison, other gases like natural gas or even nuclear gas are much more toxic and dangerous and can even prove to be fatal in case of a gas leak in the house.
Cons of Hydrogen Boilers
As amazing as they are, hydrogen boilers are still in their discovery phase. They require a lot more research and refining and therefore, they do hold some drawbacks currently. Here are all the cons of using hydrogen boilers and hydrogen fuel at home.
Expensive
As of now, hydrogen is quite expensive to produce. Researchers are still looking into better and more sustainable ways to produce hydrogen. Currently, producing enough hydrogen to supply every home is proving to be quite expensive.
Highly Flammable
Hydrogen is also much more flammable than other types of gases. Therefore, you might need to switch out a few components in your boiler to make it safer to use with hydrogen fuel.
Production Produces Carbon
Researchers are also looking into cleaner methods of producing hydrogen. Currently, the way that hydrogen is produced, it is leaking a lot of carbon into the air. On the other hand, the cleaner methods, such as producing through electrolysis are very expensive.
Wrapping Up
These pros and cons of hydrogen boilers clearly reveal that the scale is tipping in favour of these new boilers. While they certainly do have some drawbacks, we are sure that these will be handled and overcome very quickly in the future to make it a much more sustainable project.
Even besides that, there are too many advantages of the boilers for us to ignore them. Therefore, this should have helped you decide on where you stand in the matter. While the implementation of this technology will require more time, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t start preparing for it from now.
Make sure all your gas and heating appliances are up to date and in perfect working order so that the switch is seamless. If you suspect any problems, visit our website and book a session for our Gas Safety registered gas engineers to carry out a thorough inspection.
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