Huge hydrogen stores found below Earth's crust

Vancouver Sun ^ | April 15, 2002 | Robert Matthews

[aruanan]

Huge hydrogen stores found below Earth's crust

A more plausible (and better developed as well as more thoroughly tested) theory as to both the origin of the hydrogen as well as to what becomes of it is found in Thomas Gold's The Origin of Methane (and Oil) in the Crust of the Earth.

[apochromat]

We need something like a bacterium that produces huge amounts of methane, but can only live in a special tank environment.

[apochromat]

Oh wait, we have that.

[mad_as_he$$]

ok so what do you do when gold is worthless?

[tubebender]

Is he talking about free hydrogen here??? If so, its hard to believe this hasn't been "discovered" until now. If true, why isn't hydrogen release a hazard in mining operations? If he's including hydrogen in any form, including the H2 in the water in the rocks, then the claims are an exageration. Something is missing from this report, and I am a sceptical of the broad claims for this new "discovery."

That's the first thought that I had.

[LJLucido]

Huge hydrogen stores

Typical. Huge hydrogen stores move in and run all the mom and pop hydrogen stores out of business!

[Aquinasfan]

This is stupid. It's not free hydrogen, takes more energy to get it than you get by burning the hydrogen.

The promising part was that underground reservoir running from Kansas to Canada.

I found this on-line:

The deepest research borehole ever drilled was in Russia, on the Kola peninsula. Over a period of more than a decade a huge purpose-built rig drilled to over 12 kilometres to investigate the structure of the Continental Crust (sorry about the units, I'm in Australia and we're metric here - so are the Russians).

The results showed unexpected fractures and fissures and water-bearing zones deep in the crust, where conventional wisdom expected the pressure of rock above to close up all cracks.

The deepest oil wells that I know are drilled to about 6km, say 20,000ft. Most normal oil wells are drilled to about 3000 to 5000

[nightdriver]

"Some alternative energy research claims that the water vapor released by burning Hydrogen will become even more dangerous than CO2 and the other gases in our atmosphere because it holds more heat than CO2."

Good point. Not that it would ever amount to a dangerous amount, but water snags oxygen from the atmosphere and is more or less stable while carbon dioxide is food for plants which release oxygen back into the enviornment.

[apochromat]

I sit, embarrassed at my success?

[11B3]

And that theory is correct, I would bet time will prove to the naysayers. So let's review a minute here: This finding has elemental Hydrogen under the crust....We already know that there is elemental carbon down there as well. OK naysayers - what's methane????? CH4??? Given all the pressure and heat under the crust - forces mankind cannot easily duplicate in the lab - why is it such a great mental stretch to concede that just possibly what you call "fossil fuel" isn't really just a natural product of geochemistry? After all, look at all of the other COMPOUNDS that the earth creates.

[RightlySo]

Alternative energy to fuel homes and cars is a wonderful thought. However, we will still require Arab oil in the manufacture of *all* plastics, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, detergents, phonograph records, photographic film, furniture, packaging materials, fiberglass, paints, and artificial fibers used in clothing, upholstery, and carpet backing.

There are plenty of other uses as well. So when we consider that the Saudis control over 10X the oil of any other country on the planet, we will still be sending them paychecks in 50 years. (Unless we annex them into the USA.)

:)

[zog]

--that's the part I don't understand. I have drilled granite, there ain't no hydrogen coming out easy or you'd see sparks and flames from the steel drill bit igniting it. where exactly is this hydrogen again? I'm all for alternate energy, I'm a proponent of alternative hot- fusion power-it's called 'the sun" and the technology is here and it works. We don't have to "discover" it. The sun's fusion energy runs our winds and ocean currents. That's a lotta horse power, the mother of all therms, ergs a-plenty. It takes carbon molecules and some trace minerals and develops biomatter in profuse and varied abundance by the cubic mile every constantly across the planet. Automatically. We get direct radiation across a broad spectrum. It's awesome. It's there, no drilling two miles deep for it, just step outside. Mr. bigshot in the sky wasn't fooling around, he's handed it to us gratis. "here ya go hoomans, if you are smart enough to see it". We just need better ways to tap it. the ways we have now work, and they can get better. As the pack gave way to the travois to the wheel to the wheel plus engine to the wheeless skimmers in the air progression shows, we can do wonders with it if we just try and stop beating our heads against the wall in fighting it.

[FairWitness]

The low yield of energy from burning hydrogen compared to gas, however, means that vast quantities of rock would have to be mined.

But what about the environmental impact statements?

[11B3]

"Alternative energy to fuel homes and cars is a wonderful thought. However, we will still require Arab oil in the manufacture of *all* plastics, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, detergents, phonograph records, photographic film, furniture, packaging materials, fiberglass, paints, and artificial fibers used in clothing, upholstery, and carpet backing.

There are plenty of other uses as well. So when we consider that the Saudis control over 10X the oil of any other country on the planet, we will still be sending them paychecks in 50 years. (Unless we annex them into the USA.)

If we were to eliminate the requirement for gasoline alone here in the US, the Arabs would be drinking their oil - the US has plenty of its' own reserves in that case for the chemical processes you listed above. (Except for phonograph albums - most of the audience here probably doesn't remember those even.) When you consider the availability of Russia's reserves to the US market, the Arabs can all pack sand - we don't need them. Let the EU figure out where to get their own oil, as they are the ones who are completely dependent upon the ragheads.

[apochromat]

Why, they might as well be digging uranium!

[Nebullis]

Check also:

There may be enough natural gas on earth to meet our energy needs for thousands of years. The trick is to ferry it across continents without blowing up.

From Hitting the natural gas jackpot

[tet68]

It's that Hydrogen Warming the liberals have, er, will be telling us about.

Wonder how long before the actors from "Chain Reaction" will be testifying before a democrat enviro-committee.

[Some hope remaining.]

The Senate?