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No matter who we are or where we come from, we all do our best to care for our families, friends, and communities. Across races and incomes, most of us want the freedom to breathe safe air, live in healthy homes, and help stabilize our climate. For too long, fossil fuel companies beholden to shareholders have spent exorbitant sums to promote the false solution of gas system decarbonization and made rate-payers foot the bill for their advertisements.[i] They hike up our rates while they pollute our homes and challenge Oregon’s Climate Protection Program in court.[ii] Oregon’s gas companies have been pulling us in the wrong direction, but together we can set the course right.
Recently NW Natural has been taking legislators on tours of its Hydrogen Test Facilities to promote its plan to inject hydrogen into pipelines and our homes, touting it as a solution for decarbonizing the gas distribution system. It is not. The only way to fully decarbonize home heating, water heating, and cooking is through efficient home electrification.
We believe that it’s critical to all Oregonians that our legislators are able to discern truth from greenwashing by investor-owned utilities. We depend on leaders like you to demand solutions that are in the best interests of utility customers of today and tomorrow. We hope you can make use of the resources we’ve prepared for you below and join other legislators[iii] in demanding truth and accountability in evaluating pathways towards a clean energy future.
Bottom Line: Blending hydrogen with natural gas won’t mitigate climate change much and has a lot of other problems. Here are the top three reasons why adding hydrogen to the natural gas network is a false solution. Each is elaborated below:
● Not safe
● Not affordable
● Not a climate solution
Not Safe: Remember the Hindenburg?[iv] Steel pipeline failure risk increases with as little as 5% hydrogen by volume, and “risk of gas ignition outside the pipeline” increases with any more than 20% hydrogen in plastic pipes.[v] Combusting hydrogen emits as much NOx as "natural gas."[vi] The American Medical Association has passed resolutions recognizing the health harms of gas stoves compared to electric, and the dangers of adding hydrogen to natural gas.[vii]
Not affordable: Efficient home electrification is good for Oregonians’ pocketbooks. Because heat pumps are three times more efficient than gas furnaces and electric resistance heat, utility bills can decrease by up to 30% with electrification.[viii] Even the cheapest hydrogen will add cost on top of increasingly expensive gas.[ix]
Not a climate solution: Even in the most optimistic scenario, this technology would reduce emissions from Oregon’s gas supply by at most 7%, assuming a 20% blend of zero carbon intensity clean hydrogen,[x] which would result in only a 0.5% reduction[xi] in Oregon’s overall emissions assuming 100% of the gas system injected hydrogen at the upper limit.
In conclusion: Hydrogen for home heating will be expensive, dangerous, and vastly insufficient to meet Oregon’s climate goals or the reduction required for a livable future. In addition to the footnoted references, here are some additional resources you may find useful.
● Pages 16 - 18 of the 2022 report, Methane Gas: Health, Safety, Economic and Climate Impacts. A Case for Equitable Electrification.
● A Sightline Institute article on the fallacy of using hydrogen for heating in our homes.
● US office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy suggests that “with modest modifications” hydrogen can be added up to only 15% by volume. https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-pipelines
If you wish, we would be happy to schedule a meeting with you to answer any questions you may have on this topic.
Sincerely,
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