Scientists Estimate Earth Contains Large Deposits of Naturally Occurring Geologic Hydrogen

Scientists estimate Earth contains enough naturally occurring geologic hydrogen to meet global energy needs for 170,000 years. S. 00 per kilogram.

Green hydrogen currently accounts for less than one percent of all hydrogen production in the United States. Canadian researchers published findings last year in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment showing that vast deposits in the Canadian Shield could be economically viable. The Canadian Shield is a vast region of Precambrian rock that surrounds Hudson Bay.

Researchers at the University of Oxford, Durham University and the University of Toronto conducted the study. Vema Hydrogen has begun test drilling in Quebec. The company has drilled two test wells 1,000 feet deep into the bedrock in rural Quebec.

Vema Hydrogen plans to inject treated water into iron-rich rock deposits to create a chemical reaction that yields hydrogen. Barbara Sherwood Lollar, lead author of the Canada-based study, said there is a global race to increase hydrogen availability in order to decarbonize and reduce the costs of the existing hydrogen economy.

She added that researchers now have a better understanding of the economic viability of this resource that can be mapped to hydrogen deposits around the world that are both already known and yet to be discovered.

Geologic hydrogen is hydrogen that already naturally exists underground within rock formations and can theoretically be mined directly rather than produced using energy resources. Significant technical hurdles remain in identifying optimal deposits and perfecting extraction methods. Unlocking geologic hydrogen could make it cost-competitive with fossil fuels.