German parliament seeks to ban hydrogen for heating in amendment of controversial proposed zero-carbon law
Bundesrat committees declare that the clause allowing H2-ready boilers ahead of possible future hydrogen use ‘does not make sense’
The upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat, plans to amend the controversial zero-carbon heating law put forward last month by the federal government, to remove the possibility of using hydrogen to heat the country’s buildings.
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The inclusion of hydrogen-ready boilers was a compromise position insisted upon by the junior partners in the government coalition, the economically liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).
Five committees of the Bundesrat — which consists of representatives of Germany’s 16 states — have met to discuss the bill ahead of a vote on 12 May, and declared that inclusion of the hydrogen clause “does not make sense” and would set the “wrong incentives” for consumers.
According to an agreed Bundesrat statement, the hydrogen-ready boiler option “will be tempting for many consumers as the initial investment costs are lower [than alternatives such as electric heat pumps]”.
“However, the likely very high costs of future hydrogen operation are not sufficiently taken into account, which means that the additional financial burden will be postponed to the future.
“The use of hydrogen does not make sense against the background of energy efficiency and socially acceptable heat prices in the building heating sector.”
The bill — which polls show is unpopular with the German people due to higher upfront prices for those needing to replace their heating systems — will also need approval from the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, where members are directly elected by voters.
Despite signing off on the bill in cabinet last month, the FDP stated that at the time that it wanted to see the legislation amended in parliament to allow greater flexibility for hydrogen usage.
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