Hydrogen Blending in New York Gas Pipelines Undermines State Climate Goals

• New analysis shows 70% energy loss before green hydrogen reaches New York state’s buildings; results in only 3.9% greenhouse gas emissions reduction for building sector.
• Blending 20% hydrogen by volume into New York state’s gas pipeline system would consume nearly 8 times more electricity than heating the same number of homes with heat pumps.
• Mixing hydrogen into existing pipelines could entrench New York’s reliance on natural gas.  

A new report by data-driven think tank Switchbox, commissioned by Environmental Defense Fund, finds that blending hydrogen into the existing natural gas pipeline system would achieve limited greenhouse gas reductions that are not practically scalable, and could continue New York’s reliance on natural gas beyond 2050. 

Read the full report by Switchbox (PDF)  

“Injecting hydrogen into gas pipelines, homes and buildings is not an interim decarbonization solution, despite industry assertions,” said Erin Murphy, Senior Attorney, Energy Markets & Utility Regulation, Environmental Defense Fund. “Hydrogen production is energy intensive and should be reserved for the hardest to electrify sectors—not for New York’s buildings sector, where better solutions are available today.”  

New York’s buildings constitute nearly one-third of its GHG emissions, and while New York looks to reduce these emissions rapidly and significantly by transitioning from natural gas to heat pumps powered by renewable-based electricity, a number of gas utilities are proposing to inject hydrogen into their local gas distribution systems instead.  

Some utilities assert that a 20% hydrogen / 80% natural gas mixture would support decarbonization goals. But hydrogen is highly energy intensive to produce and is also a leak-prone, flammable gas that contributes to climate warming.  

Switchbox’s analysis compares hydrogen blending against equivalent deployment of electric heat pumps and found that 20% hydrogen blends would reduce building sector emissions by only 3.9%. The same volume of renewable power, if used to run heat pumps, could achieve over 3x the greenhouse gas emissions reductions. 

Additionally, the 20% hydrogen blend scenario would consume nearly 8 times more electricity than using heat pumps – requiring new electricity generation equivalent to what is needed to power the whole of New York City for a year. This is because by using renewable electricity to produce hydrogen, instead of using it directly to power heat pumps, 70% of the energy content is lost before even reaching New Yorkers’ homes and buildings.  

Some suggest that today’s proposed hydrogen blending pilot projects would be a first step to incrementally increasing the hydrogen content over time. But existing pipelines are not designed for hydrogen and pose compatibility challenges, which increases the likelihood of climate-warming methane and hydrogen emissions leaking into the atmosphere. Since hydrogen is highly flammable, this also poses safety risks. 

Switchbox’s analysis shows that replacing 100% of the building natural gas supply with green hydrogen would require four times more renewables than are needed for New York State’s entire economy to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. And 100% hydrogen use in buildings would only reduce building sector emissions by about 70% - leaving about 30% of greenhouse gas emissions remaining. 

“Our analysis found that blending hydrogen with natural gas, even at very low levels, is not a viable approach to building decarbonization compared to using renewable electricity directly with heat pumps,” said Juan-Pablo Velez, Executive Director, Switchbox. “It is neither a short-term fix, nor a stepping stone to a fully-decarbonized system: hydrogen blending represents a road to nowhere.” 

Download the report graphics

Switchbox (switch.box) is a think tank producing rigorous, accessible data on state climate policy for advocates, policymakers, & the public.