The US government says we’ve hit the jackpot when it comes to natural hydrogen hiding underground. Geologists reckon there’s so much of it down there that we could fuel the world for centuries!
According to a sneak peek at a report from the US Geological Survey, there could be a whopping five trillion tonnes of natural hydrogen just waiting to be tapped. Even if we only get our hands on a small chunk of that, it could keep us going for hundreds of years!
Imagine, just a tiny bit of this hidden treasure could meet the entire world’s demand for hydrogen. And with global demand expected to hit 375 million tonnes a year by 2050, it’s like finding a goldmine!
Experts are calling it a “gold rush” for this golden hydrogen. They reckon it’ll be cleaner and cheaper to use than other methods of making hydrogen, like using steam or electrolysis.
The US government’s already getting in on the action, doling out millions of dollars to help companies measure and produce natural hydrogen. And it’s not just talk—companies are already out there hunting for this precious gas. Some have even struck gold, like Gold Hydrogen in Australia and Koloma in the US.
But there’s still a bit of a mystery to solve. See, natural hydrogen likes to hang out with other gases like methane, so we’ll need to figure out how to separate them. And while we’ve found some big pockets of hydrogen, we’re not sure yet if we can get it out in a way that’s practical and profitable.
Right now, the only place using natural hydrogen is a village in Mali, where they burn it to make electricity. But with all this excitement brewing, who knows where else we might find this hidden treasure and what we could do with it!
