Two technologies that competed for the future of heating and transport. The race is over.
In 2025, 19m heat pumps were sold globally. Hydrogen-ready boilers: 237 units. The picture in transport is identical.
21m electric vehicles were sold last year. Hydrogen fuel cell cars: roughly 10,000 units.
Not only would this put money in the backpockets of households across the country, it would drive growth and new jobs: from the skilled heating engineers and retrofitters installing new equipment, to the industrial-scale plants manufacturing insulation and clean heating systems in the UK.
Labour's Warm Homes Plan would tackle this but now may be cut.
@e3g.bsky.social's @jamesdyson.bsky.social coordinated a letter from 50 businesses calling on the govt to honour its pledge to spend an extra £6.6bn on making British homes more energy efficient.
Read here: www.ft.com/content/fce6...
The UK's housing is among the least energy-efficient in Europe. This means it costs more to heat our homes that it needs to and we're wasting money on extra gas and electricity instead of spending it on the things that truly matter.
www.ft.com/content/fce6...
“If the UK wants to compete for clean industry and investment, electricity prices must come down,” said Laith Whitwham of E3G. “Moving legacy policy costs into general taxation is a fast, fiscally sound fix.”
Coverage of our letter to the Chancellor:
www.energylivenews.com/2025/05/14/c...
We say it makes far more sense to pay for these via taxation, where costs are recovered progressively. This will free up business capital to #invest in #electrification and #EnergyEfficiency, and free up cash for low-income households, who are disproportionately affected by the current model.
What are policy costs? Generally things to help incentivise #CleanEnergy (if you've got #solar you may have had a Feed in Tariff).
Invaluable schemes that helped scale-up #wind and solar, but paying for them via electricity bills is regressive and disincentivises the switch from gas to clean power.
Why are we asking for this?
High 🇬🇧 power prices are a massive burden for households, especially on low incomes, make it difficult for UK industry to compete internationally, and deter investment into new, #CleanIndustry. Removing #PolicyCosts is a fast and fair way to reduce those prices.
Today a coalition of 17 businesses, investors, trade bodies & climate orgs wrote to the Chancellor urging the UK gov to remove policy costs from #electricity bills.
The public letter 👇 is a bold show of support across the board from 'green' groups to the private sector.
www.e3g.org/news/cut-ele...
As Labour moves to rescue British #Steel, debate over the UK’s industrial future heats up.
E3G’s @laithw.bsky.social says it’s not decarbonisation to blame, but the lack of a coherent industrial strategy.
Read the full piece in @politico.eu here👇
www.politico.eu/article/keir...
A Starling murmuration, thousands of birds moving as one.
A moment of wonder, a feeling of connection.
What does it make you feel?
#ThoughtfulThursday 💌
E3G's has just published new research on the cost of hydrogen for home heating and, unsurprisingly, it is not an attractive proposition - unless you own a gas network...
Fantastic research into the cold, hard numbers from @chrisgalpin.bsky.social, with a thread well worth checking out.
Is 2025 the end of the road for hydrogen boilers?
I certainly hope so. My new briefing today looks at hydrogen heating - and why Labour needs to rule it out ASAP if they want to keep energy bills down.
🧵
www.e3g.org/publications... 🔌💡
A reminder that the only way for Europe to reduce exposure to volatile fossil gas prices is to significantly reduce gas consumption.
Countless renters have similar stories. Appalling landlords think it is Okay to let homes in these conditions.
In one story, Brighton City Council was contacted but did nothing; resource is the problem. We should levy ~£125 / property to fund local enforcement. 1/5
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Given the media circus around nuclear & CCS, this is a timely analysis from BNEF that new wind & solar are already undercutting new fossil plants in almost every market globally.
Cost of clean technologies are expected to fall further by 2-11% this year💰
about.bnef.com/blog/global-...
UK heat pump sales increased 63% last year and 15% more people completed a recognised heat pump training qualification! This is great news in a sector which has taken a while to get going. 1/4
www.heatpumps.org.uk/record-year-...
...time and public funding are limited.
CCS is receiving billions in subsidies while electrification receives next to nothing.
If we're developing solutions alongside each other, it surely makes sense to go big, now, on the ones that can already be deployed at scale and with less financial risk.
CCS has a role, e.g. in chemicals and cement, and potentially for dispatchable power.
And yes, it's a nascent industry with high costs right now that are due to come down.
BUT...
Steel will not use CCS.
Low temperature heat and light manufacturing will likely electrify.
Ceramics will achieve 85% of emissions reductions without CCS.
Glass will use electrification and hydrogen, with CCS for only the biggest plants.
At best, CCS will be one of many solutions. To call it the only way to protect our industrial heartlands is grossly misleading and ignores the fact electrification will decarbonise more than half of the UK's industrial activity.
Electrification will also be far cheaper for business and the public.
In this article the 'offshore energy' association @oeuk.bsky.social say CCS 'is the only way to protect heavy industrial activity and the jobs they support in our industrial heartlands.'
This is simply not true and plays off fears around job losses.
Short thread...
But we don't need a 'renewable' fuel that's not really renewable to meet our renewable energy goals.
For the detail this deserves read the full report here: www.e3g.org/publications...
And follow @e3g.bsky.social @susieelks.bsky.social @edmatthew.bsky.social @elliemaeohagan.bsky.social
Our report charts a pathway to clean power that is based on:
- Expanded renewables
- Greater demand flexibility (smart technologies and tariffs)
- Long-duration storage
- Green hydrogen for dispatchable power
The catch? Policy change is absolutely fundamental - especially to cut bills.
The government has therefore been reluctant to let go of bioenergy as a source of 'renewable' capacity, despite what the science tells us.
But our analysis with @baringa.bsky.social shows this capacity can be found elsewhere, and at the same time as reducing bills!
The bioenergy lobby say they are crucial to the clean power mission, as bioenergy is a source of 'renewable' dispatachable power (electricity generation that can start on demand).
And as we know, we'll need on-demand low carbon power in a system dominated by variable renewables.
At the moment, 4% of our electricity comes from burning wood to generate power - mostly at Drax power stations.
This practice is labelled 'renewable' (8% of renewable power in fact), but there's considerable evidence that burning wood pellets shipped halfway round the world isn't clean.
