Why heating our homes with hydrogen could be a pipe dream
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 August 2023
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the neighbourhood of Whitby in Cheshire, residents had to grapple with a question that many more of us will have to ask in the coming years: how should we heat our homes if we’re no longer allowed gas boilers? What started as a proposal to test hydrogen heating soon escalated into an explosive argument. As government policies aimed at reaching net zero start to affect our daily lives, is it a sign of the squabbles to come?
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Guests:
- Ben Cooke, Times Earth editor.
- Kate Grannell, campaigner.
Host: Luke Jones.
Clips: Cheshire West and Chester Council, Sky News, The Economist, TED.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I was just in the kitchen, you know, making a bit of breakfast for my son, heard the letterbox |
| 0:10.6 | go. |
| 0:11.6 | Meet Kate Grinnell, she's lived in Whitby for eight years, Cheshire Whitby, not Yorkshire |
| 0:16.9 | Whitby. |
| 0:17.9 | Unfortunately no, no lovely coastal area right here. |
| 0:21.5 | No, no fish and chips. |
| 0:24.6 | So went to the door and saw some glossy green brochure about how Whitby was going to |
| 0:32.1 | be, you know, there's this pioneer of change. |
| 0:38.0 | The brochure was about a trial that would test a potentially greener way to heat their |
| 0:42.5 | homes. |
| 0:43.5 | We were going to be at the forefront of this amazing renewable technology that was going |
| 0:47.7 | to help us effectively, you know, save the planet. |
| 0:54.1 | But as some residents learn more and more, the idea went sour. |
| 0:58.3 | And I just had a light bulb moment of, oh wow, this is not what they're selling it |
| 1:04.0 | as. |
| 1:05.0 | A bunch of them formed a group in opposition to the planned trial. |
| 1:08.3 | They gave out leaflets, knocked on doors, they even managed to arrange a big town meeting |
| 1:12.8 | to make their case. |
| 1:13.8 | It's the fossil fuel industry, you can tell them they're lying because they're lips |
| 1:18.4 | are moving. |
| 1:19.4 | Okay, so. |
| 1:21.0 | But these aren't nimby's or climate deniers. |
... |
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