From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Tue Apr 16 2002 - 23:03:35 MDT
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vancouversun/story.asp?id=1F54AEED-A34B-411B-B95F-972AB119DD85
Huge hydrogen stores found below Earth's crust
Discovery suggests near limitless supply of clean fuel
Robert Matthews
Vancouver Sun
Monday, April 15, 2002
LONDON -- Scientists have discovered vast quantities of hydrogen gas, widely
regarded as the most promising alternative to today's dwindling stocks of
fossil fuels, lying beneath the Earth's crust.
The discovery has stunned energy experts, who believe that it could provide
virtually limitless supplies of clean fuel for cars, homes and industry.
Governments across the world are urgently seeking ways of switching from
conventional energy sources such as coal, gas and nuclear power to cleaner,
safer alternatives.
Energy specialists estimate that oil production will start to decline within
the next 10 to 15 years, as the economically viable reserves start to run
out.
Hydrogen gas has been hailed as the ultimate clean fuel, as it produces only
water when burned. Until now, however, moves to switch to a "hydrogen
economy" have been dogged by the cost of making the gas. The two most common
ways -- extraction from natural gas and sea water -- are expensive and create
environmental problems.
Now scientists at the American space agency Nasa have found that the Earth's
crust is a vast natural reservoir of hydrogen which has become trapped in
ancient rocks.
The team made its discovery while trying to explain how bacteria live many
miles below the Earth's surface. Such bugs have no access to sunlight,
forcing them to rely on another source of energy for life. Scientists
suspected that hydrogen was the source.
According to Professor Friedemann Freund and colleagues at Nasa's Ames
Research Center in California, the gas is produced when water molecules
trapped inside molten rock break down to release hydrogen.
"In the top 20 kilometres of the Earth's crust, the conditions are right to
produce a nearly inexhaustible supply of hydrogen," said Professor Freund.
Studies by the team of common rock types such as granite and olivine have
revealed extraordinarily high levels of trapped hydrogen. Professor Freund
said that his team had "tantalizing evidence" that as much as 1,000 litres of
hydrogen may be trapped in each cubic metre of rock.
Although formidable engineering problems remain to be overcome in abstracting
the gas, the sheer volume of the Earth's crust means that such a high
concentration would solve the world's energy problems.
"Everyone thinks of gas and oil as the main sources, and it's very difficult
to get anyone to take alternatives seriously," said Dr. David Elliott, the
professor of technology policy at the Open University in London. "The
possibility of vast reserves of hydrogen in the Earth's crust could change
that mindset."
The low yield of energy from burning hydrogen compared to gas, however, means
that vast quantities of rock would have to be mined.
Professor Freund believes that the extraction and crushing of rock to extract
the trapped hydrogen is likely to be prohibitively expensive. The reaction
which creates the gas takes place at depths far below those involved in oil
extraction, which are typically about two miles down.
The most promising source of the hydrogen may be geological "traps" similar
to those now drilled for natural gas. Professor Freund said: "One of these
natural hydrogen fields is already known to exist in North America, and
extends from Canada to Kansas."
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