Scientists believe hydrogen could be the key to a carbon-free future

For decades, scientists have been looking for an alternative fuel that might provide a carbon-free fuel to future generations. Now they've found an unexpected answer.

The scientific magazine ‘Science’ revealed in a February 2023 publication something that could change the future of fuel as we know it.

The article, titled ‘Hidden Hydrogen: Does Earth Holds Vast Stores of a Renewable, Carbon-Free Fuel?’ and written by Eric Hand, posits the existence of large deposits of hydrogen around the globe.

It all started out in Mali, where gas was found coming out of a potential oil well in the village of Bourakébougou.

Further exploration revealed that 98% of the gas was actually hydrogen. This backed what some scientists have theorized for years: unlike what is commonly believed, large stores of natural hydrogen might exist around the globe.

Image: Valeria Fursa / Unsplash

According to ‘Science’, water-rock reactions deep within the Earth continuously generate hydrogen, which sometimes accumulates in underground traps.

Not only that, but a 2022 US Geological Survey shows evidence that there might be enough natural hydrogen to cover global demand for generations to come.

These might be the first steps of a revolution in how we generate power.

Hydrogen, unlike gas or coal, produces no emissions when burned. It’s a clean and environmentally-friendly fuel, whose only byproduct when in contact with oxygen is water.

Since natural hydrogen is created when underground water reacts to iron minerals at elevated temperatures, it means that it is constantly renewing itself, unlike fossil fuel.

Apparently, natural hydrogen has been going unnoticed for so long since nobody bothered to measure hydrogen levels in borehole emanations.

One of the disadvantages of hydrogen is that it is very expensive or very polluting to produce. Currently, all commercial hydrogen has to be manufactured.

For example, as of 2022, the European Commission reports that hydrogen represents less than 2% of the EU energy consumption and is primarily used for the production of fertilizers.

96% of this hydrogen is produced with natural gas, resulting in huge amounts of CO2.

However, sanctions on Russia due to the war in Ukraine, one of the biggest suppliers of natural gas, have forced the EU to consider other energy sources.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the first hydrogen borehole was completed in Nebraska by the startup Natural Hydrogen Energy.

Will natural hydrogen live up to the hype? It’s too early to tell, but what is true is that it seems like a step in the right direction.

Image: Federico Beccari / Unsplash