Learning the three Es

Whether we like it or not the era of the electric car is fast approaching. More and more vehicle manufacturers are making the pledge to produce nothing but EVs within just a few years. The speed at which they are going to have to retrain their staff and ensure that plant and equipment is ready for full-scale roll out is something to be admired. There is decisiveness about the direction of travel from the industry that should be praised.

One the problems with the transition to electric vehicles will be the cost of the EVs themselves. Currently, the cost of most is way beyond the reach of most consumers leading to fears that there could be a boom in second-hand car sales in the coming years. But as the industry is moving so fast and production will ramp up then those costs will start coming down.

If only the picture were as simple in the energy sector. At the moment the debate about which way we should turn in the commercial and domestic energy markets seems to centre around whether it’s going to be hydrogen or heat pumps. Of course, nobody has any real idea and the best thing to say is that it’s going to be a mixture of the two.

The big hope is hydrogen. Gas companies want to believe that hydrogen has a role to play in decarbonising the UK’s heat networks. Hydrogen, if produced from natural gas with carbon capture and storage or from wind and solar power via electrolysis, is touted as a low-carbon or even fully renewable alternative to natural gas in future.

Various pilot projects are under way across the UK, but the timelines are long and the way forward uncertain. Centrica believes hydrogen is part of the mix but admits the technology to produce it cleanly is more than ten years away from domestic use and its costs are unknown.

To take a punt on hydrogen being the miracle answer is far too risky. What would not be acceptable to anybody is a huge increase in energy bills as the cost of producing hydrogen soars. Simply keeping the British stock of property the way it is and replacing natural gas with hydrogen can’t be the way forward. There needs to be significant improvements in energy efficiency first and then follow the car industry’s decisive move towards electrification. Future is spelled with three Es: Energy Efficiency, Electrification.