At the end of the last century and beginning of this one, the Third Way dominated global politics for the simple reason that it worked. It offered practical solutions to the world’s problems and faced with the challenge of the energy trilemma is a hybrid the way forward?

A recent study in the Netherlands found that gas usage fell by 75 per cent when a hybrid system was in place. I’ve read studies where that figure has been higher, but let prudence be our watchword. In a post-2030 world of clean power, reductions in carbon of that magnitude go some way towards the trilemma.

On running cost, and here’s a bonus, because the heat pump does not have to work alone during very cold weather, its average annual efficiency (sCOP) is higher than a heat pump alone. In the Netherlands trial 380 per cent against the 280 set by the UK government for subsidy qualification. Based on their trial, if applied to the average UK household, a hybrid system would be about £30 a year cheaper to run than a gas boiler, and over £100 a year cheaper than a heat pump alone.

For initial installation, a large element of the heat pump cost of £13,000 is fitting a hot water cylinder where a combi-boiler is replaced. A hybrid with a combi- boiler therefore costs less to install.

So that’s two elements of the trilemma addressed.

With a hybrid using gas at peak times only, the annual volume needed reduced by three-quarters, it opens the door on biomethane and hydrogen to displace fossil gas on the basis that a lower volume becomes easier to envisage and ultimately supply, than current volumes of natural gas. And the power sector benefits too. They will struggle to generate, with certainty, the low carbon electricity demanded. With gas sharing that peak demand, it eases the pressure of providing that additional (and expensive) generation.

Has the Third Way found its path with hybrids, possibly yes.