Modus Operandi, set up an advisory body and then simply ignore its conclusions? The UK government formed its
National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). The
NIC, on the basis of detailed studies, concluded that heat pumps are the 'only viable' option for UK home heating. They judged that replacing 'natural gas' by hydrogen is unsuitable for heating domestic properties. Government and the gas-focused industry body then ignore this, favouring hydrogen over heat pumps (
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/21/hydrogen-boiler-home-heating-uk). Hydrogen, although it burns without generating 'greenhouse gases', uses 5-6 times more electricity to produce the gas, than the power needed to run a heat pump. Consequently, the
NIC judged that hydrogen is only really suitable for powering heavy vehicles, where batteries are impractical. one might expect the gas-focused industry body to clearly prefer to operate their existing home boiler systems, by just changing the fuel. What, however, could make the UK government such hydrogen enthusiasts? Perhaps the fact that hydrogen is obtained, by applying electricity to oil and natural gas, is a motivating factor? To counter climate change, the government were strongly advised to leave unexploited North Sea deposits 'in the ground'. They ignored this advice, issuing many additional licences for the Rosebank oil field. It would be embarassing, if there was no ready market for the generated hydrocarbons!
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