Green Heating and Cooling | Hydrogen
https://hydrogeneurope.eu/green-heating-and-cooling
Heating and cooling consume half of the EU's energy. Although this sector aims at being a clean and low carbon energy, 75% of the fuel it uses still comes from fossil fuels (nearly half from gas). The sector is based on a vast, European interconnected gas infrastructure which delivers the needed energy to heat homes in the EU.
If Europe wants to decarbonise heating and cooling it faces several options:
Through the electrification of heating with heat pump or electric heaters or via the introduction of renewable gas such as hydrogen or biogas.
The electrification options are feasible for a number of building (new builds only and that are well insulated and where low temperature heating through the floor is possible) but the majority of the building stock today is not compatible. Moreover, the demand of heat is concentrated in winter time when renewables are less available. Additionally, a complete electrification of heat would imply that the gas grid is no longer used and becomes a stranded asset.
...
There are three ways to decarbonise the gas grid: Green and Decarbonised Hydrogen:
* Green hydrogen through water electrolysis using renewable electricity.
* Decarbonised hydrogen through natural gas reformation with carbon capture and storage.
* By-product hydrogen taken from an unavoidable source of hydrogen which would have been otherwise flared or ineffectively burnt for electricity generation.
The gas infrastructure decarbonisation through the introduction of high share of such hydrogen, firstly through a blending with natural gas and in the future possibly to a complete conversion to 100% hydrogen system is a reality that needs to be acknowledged and pushed for.
Additionally, this enables a greater integration of renewable energy sources and a direct reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, due to the increased share of intermittent renewable energy sources (wind and solar) in the European energy system, the utilisation of the vast gas infrastructure as an energy storage asset is an opportunity (the green gas being used in homes but also in gas-fired power plants (link to sectoral integration).
Hydrogen represents the optimal overall solution for long-term, carbon-free seasonal storage.