Why Hydrogen?

Hydrogen’s role in net zero

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing society and the UK Government was the first major economy in the world to pass a new law to end our contribution. The target will require the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

‘Net zero’ means getting a balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of the atmosphere. This means reducing emissions to their lowest amount through energy efficiencies and low carbon and renewable fuels and if putting carbon into the atmosphere is unavoidable, balancing that out by investing in schemes which remove carbon elsewhere.

Hydrogen is set to play a major role in helping us reach net zero with the Climate Change Committee predicting we will need 250 TWh of hydrogen by 2050.

Power

Hydrogen can help to balance the energy system, either by generating heat immediately or by storing it when renewable energy sources are generating more electricity than the country needs.

Industry

Hydrogen can be used as a low carbon fuel in industry, which is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. A conversion to hydrogen is relatively low cost and straightforward with many trials underway in the UK.

Transport

The transport sector accounts for around 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the UK and has a significant impact on air quality. Electric vehicles will be a huge part of the solution but while the take up of domestic electric cars is growing, the rest of the transport sector faces a bigger challenge. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles could help address this challenge particularly for longer journey fleet vehicles, HGVs and return-to-base vehicles. Hydrogen could also be used in rail, shipping and aviation. As hydrogen vehicles emit only water vapour and warm air they can help to improve local air quality.

Heating buildings

Most UK homes and businesses rely on natural gas, a fossil fuel, for heating and cooking. This accounts for about 23% of the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions. Moving to low-carbon hydrogen gas for heating and cooking, is one of the ways to help solve this issue.