UK company Worcester Bosch officially revealed its new hydrogen-powered boiler prototype. It is unique because it has been designed to run effectively on both hydrogen and natural gas. Meaning it can be installed now while natural gas is still the most convenient form of fuel, and it will be ready for the future when the hydrogen infrastructure is set.
Those who have a ‘hydrogen ready’ boiler can switch from using natural gas to using hydrogen when the gas is available. There is no need for an entirely new heating system, and the machine is designed to plug into the same footprint as a current natural gas boiler. The prototype is a 30kW boiler, however the unit can be scaled down or up as required.
Once installed, the boiler will burn natural gas up until the switch to hydrogen takes place. The switchover process takes less than an hour.
In the UK alone, 15% of greenhouse gas emissions come from heating homes. If the nation doesn’t change in home heating technology and fuel it won’t meet its climate change targets. Bosch believes that replacing natural gas boilers with hydrogen gas ones is the easiest solution to sustainable heating problems. The relative ease of use and advanced stage of development in hydrogen-powered boilers makes hydrogen gas a very appropriate low-carbon heating option.
Martyn Bridges, Product Management and Director of Technical Communication at Worcester Bosch said:
The development of hydrogen-fired boilers will 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, Worcester Bosch has developed a technical solution that will feel familiar to both homeowners and installers. 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 decarbonize heating and hot water, we are hopeful that the future will be hydrogen.
There will be a public trial – called the SGN’s H100 project – where the manufacturer is going to test the boilers using just hydrogen. The project is expected to see as many as 300 homes trialing hydrogen boilers.
