Post by Bobby. on Oct 30th, 2023 at 6:26am
They went hunting for fossil fuels. What they found could help save the world
By Laura Paddison, CNN
6 minute read
Published 1:00 AM EDT, Sun October 29, 2023
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/231027120437-01-white-hydrogen.jpg
A couple of hundred meters down, the probe found low concentrations of hydrogen. “This was not a real surprise for us,” Pironon told CNN; it’s common to find small amounts near the surface of a borehole. But as the probe went deeper, the concentration ticked up.
At 1,100 meters down it was 14%, at 1,250 meters it was 20%.
This was surprising, Pironon said. It indicated the presence of a large reservoir of hydrogen beneath. They ran calculations and estimated the deposit could contain between 6 million and 250 million metric tons of hydrogen.
That could make it one of the largest deposits of “white hydrogen” ever discovered, Pironon said. The find has helped fuel an already feverish interest in the gas.
Hydrogen produces only water when burned, making it very attractive as a potential clean energy source for industries like aviation, shipping and steel-making that need so much energy it’s almost impossible to meet through renewables such as solar and wind.
But if just 1% can be found and produced, it would provide 500 million tons of hydrogen for 200 years, he added.
It’s a tantalizing prospect for a slew of startups.
By Laura Paddison, CNN
6 minute read
Published 1:00 AM EDT, Sun October 29, 2023
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/231027120437-01-white-hydrogen.jpg
A couple of hundred meters down, the probe found low concentrations of hydrogen. “This was not a real surprise for us,” Pironon told CNN; it’s common to find small amounts near the surface of a borehole. But as the probe went deeper, the concentration ticked up.
At 1,100 meters down it was 14%, at 1,250 meters it was 20%.
This was surprising, Pironon said. It indicated the presence of a large reservoir of hydrogen beneath. They ran calculations and estimated the deposit could contain between 6 million and 250 million metric tons of hydrogen.
That could make it one of the largest deposits of “white hydrogen” ever discovered, Pironon said. The find has helped fuel an already feverish interest in the gas.
Hydrogen produces only water when burned, making it very attractive as a potential clean energy source for industries like aviation, shipping and steel-making that need so much energy it’s almost impossible to meet through renewables such as solar and wind.
But if just 1% can be found and produced, it would provide 500 million tons of hydrogen for 200 years, he added.
It’s a tantalizing prospect for a slew of startups.