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Hydrogen home heating is inefficient compared to heat pumps

Heat pumps are an alternative method of heating and cooling homes that has quickly become the preferred tool of most climate policymakers. Heat pumps move heat from the outside air, ground, or water into a home by absorbing heat with a refrigerant, compressing it to increase its temperature, and then releasing it inside.1 Heat pumps use less energy by transferring heat rather than generating it. Heat pumps also have the added benefit of heating and cooling a house.2 A 2023 study estimated that an electric heat pump powered by renewable energy would save 602 Kg of carbon dioxide equivalent for each one-megawatt hour compared to a gas boiler.3 Using that same one-megawatt hour of power to burn green hydrogen in a hydrogen boiler would save only 129 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent, a 78% decrease in avoided emissions.4 The total efficiencies from electricity generation to end use are 240%-380% for air source heat pumps and only 68-77% for hydrogen boilers - meaning heat pumps are around three to four times more efficient than hydrogen boilers.5

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Footnotes​

  1. National Grid. (2023, April 13). How do heat pumps work? https://www.nationalgrid.com/stories/energy-explained/how-do-heat-pumps-work ↩

  2. Matson, J., & Potter, C. (2022, July 12). Clean energy 101: Heat pumps. Rocky Mountain Institute. https://rmi.org/clean-energy-101-heat-pumps ↩

  3. Graf, A., Gagnebin, M., & Buck, M. (2023, May 11). Breaking free from fossil gas: A new path to a climate-neutral Europe. Agora Energiewende. https://static.agora-energiewende.de/fileadmin/Projekte/2021/2021_07_EU_GEXIT/A-EW_292_Breaking_free_WEB.pdf ↩

  4. Ibid. ↩

  5. Ibid. ↩