It"s an unusual scheme given the government has cautioned hydrogen will likely only become affordable and widely available after 2030. But Bouden argues that rural homes are not energy efficient enough for individual heat pumps, and are too far apart to make it worth putting a heat network in the ground. "With all the gas infrastructure in the village already, it would be more efficient to convert it to hydrogen," she says. Twenty miles (32km) to the west of the village, the Hoogeven municipality is already constructing an all-hydrogen neighbourhood, to be ready by 2023.