For the heating and hot water industry, removing carbon entirely is a complex matter, largely because of the existing infrastructure, where the majority of UK homes use natural gas for heating.
Why hydrogen boilers?
Yet, with a third of UK greenhouse gases coming from our homes, it is quite clear that the UK will not meet its climate change targets without a change in home heating technology and fuel.
Replacing natural gas boilers with hydrogen gas may be the simplest solution to the nation’s heating problems. Hydrogen is a carbon-free fuel source and can fit into a current boiler’s physical space without much disruption.
What does ‘Hydrogen blend ready’ mean?
Nearly all gas appliances that are in use today, including our boilers, are able to run on a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas.
This is called a ‘blend’ and sees 20% of the fuel source powering the appliance being hydrogen gas, with the remaining 80% being natural gas.
This means, that if the government begins to increase the amount of ‘green gases’ into the UK gas grid, your customers can be confident their new gas boiler will run for its lifetime without any wholesale changes to switch to an electric boiler for example.
Carl Arntzen, CEO, on UK’s hydrogen strategy
“We are delighted to see the publication of the much awaited Hydrogen Strategy paper. It is clear from the announcement that the trials and research in this area have helped open the route for a hydrogen future, to which we are excited to keep exploring.
“With that in mind, we are optimistic that we will see hydrogen-ready boilers, such as the one from Worcester Bosch, feature prominently in this Autumn’s Heat and Buildings Strategy particularly following the recent price-promise made by the four leading boiler manufacturers.
“We will continue to work with industry and wider parties, as we further conduct trials into hydrogen heating and push for a positive Government decision in favour of the technology in 2026.”
The experts view
"The development of hydrogen-fired boilers could mean millions of existing heating systems in our homes can be saved, rather than the entire system needing to be replaced.
“The beauty of hydrogen as an alternative to natural gas is that as well as water as a by-product, we have already solved issues such as visible flame burn using a UV cell. The gas network is also in place, so homeowners won’t experience any major infrastructure disruption.”
“With fully developed prototypes, various trials planned and many heating engineers and manufacturers in agreement that this could be a viable solution to decarbonise heating and hot water, we are hopeful that the future will be hydrogen.”
Martyn Bridges - Director of Technical Communication and Product Management
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