There is now a gold rush for a resource that could help us move away from fossil fuels. Hydrogen is an important resource that has been ignored for a long time, but it is the key to moving further away from fossil fuels.
There is a natural gas called geologic hydrogen below the Earth’s surface. It is also known as natural hydrogen or white gold. It has already been thought of as an energy source, but to get it, solid fuels like natural gas or coal have to be burned, which releases greenhouse gases.
Another way is called “green hydrogen,” and it uses clean electricity to separate hydrogen from water. However, progress on this method has stopped.
Geologic Hydrogen has the ability to get rid of fossil fuels, which is why many countries are looking into it. In the US, Spain, Canada, France, South Korea, and other places, there are already official projects in place.
More than 40 different companies were looking for natural hydrogen last year, according to a study that was just released. This search for hydrogen was called a “white gold rush” by a consulting company, but they said that finding it would be a huge step toward using clean energy.
Rystad Energy’s Minh Khoi Le said, “I would say this is something between old and new in a way.”
“The first project that found hydrogen was a while ago, but it didn’t pick up after that, right?” No one ever really tried to go on an exploring trip.
Geologic hydrogen was first found by accident in the 1980s when people were drilling into Canada’s Hydroma for water and hit a pocket of gas that was thought to be very flammable. Almost twenty years later, they looked into it again, and now this is what powers the village of Bourakébougou in Mali.
Recent discoveries in France, where the largest hydrogen deposit was found, have sparked a new wave of study into using hydrogen as a source of cleaner energy.
