In the battle to reduce emissions, the use of electricity will defeat hydrogen technology for cheaper and more cost-effective heating in European homes. This is the main conclusion of a new study by the International Council on Clean Transport (ICCT), reports Renew Economy.
When modeling the types of heating technologies, air heat pumps will be the most cost-effective for homes in 2050 and will be at least 50% lower than hydrogen. The analysis is made in the context of the European Commission’s plans to increase the target for reducing greenhouse gases by 2030 to at least 50% compared to 1990 levels. Heating is the main source of energy demand in European households and determining the best way It is as important for decarbonising this sector as the energy and transport sectors in this decade in Europe.
“An in-depth analysis shows that even if the cost of natural gas was 50% lower or the prices of renewable energy will be 50% higher in 2050 than our basic assumptions, heat pumps will still be more cost-effective than hydrogen boilers or fuel cells, “the ICCT report said.
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The report’s authors also found that the use of a process known as synthetic methane (syngas – SMR) production combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to produce hydrogen using fossil gas did not completely decarbonise the heating due to gas leakage and the inherent inefficiency of CCS technologies.
“Even in a scenario where zero and low carbon energy is used to fuel the synthetic methane production process, between 7% and 31% of greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are still released. In contrast, the use of wind and solar energy for heat pumps and electrolysis of hydrogen would be a completely carbon-free way of heating “.
A recent analysis found that energy efficiency improvements were more than sufficient to avoid a shortage of future fossil gas supplies and that they could serve as a much better alternative to the COVID-19 recovery incentive from the COVID-19 industry. fossil fuels.
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