‘White hydrogen’ – climate savior?
Using renewables to create ‘green’ hydrogen is tricky and costly. But ‘white hydrogen’ deposits exist worldwide. Where are large sources of natural hydrogen located? Start-ups are on the lookout.
Transcript
00:00 Hydrogen, simply hidden deep in the earth and in huge quantities, underground deposits
00:06 are believed to exist all over the world.
00:11 Natural hydrogen is more or less where we have never drilled.
00:16 Could naturally occurring hydrogen be the sustainable Eldorado we need for our energy
00:21 supply?
00:22 Hydrogen can be used to fuel vehicles as an alternative to diesel and gasoline.
00:28 Hydrogen can make the steel and chemical industries climate friendly, as only water remains after
00:33 combustion, nothing else.
00:36 Natural hydrogen could massively reduce CO2 emissions on our planet, but why is it not
00:41 being promoted?
00:43 Our earth is not so well explored.
00:48 We have a lot of unknown in depth.
00:52 And the people are thinking that we know a lot, but it's not true.
00:56 A large part of the planet is completely unexplored.
01:02 Eric Gaucher has been looking for natural sources of hydrogen for years.
01:08 He believes there is a source in the Pyrenees, a mountain range in southwestern Europe.
01:15 We have some proof of the presence of hydrogen because of seepages at the surface.
01:21 Those seepages are located on big trusses, on big faults, tectonic faults.
01:29 They are connected in depth to a zone we call this zone a kitchen.
01:37 In the kitchen, deep below us, hydrogen is being formed.
01:43 Rainwater that penetrates the earth's surface reacts with ferrous rock in the kitchen.
01:48 This allows hydrogen to be released and to accumulate.
01:54 So far, only one source of hydrogen has been used, in a village in West Africa.
02:00 Hydrogen drives a generator to produce electricity for the entire village.
02:05 In Mali, they found high concentrations of hydrogen and in large quantities, very shallow,
02:15 let's say 100 to 200 meters.
02:19 So our idea is to replicate these findings in other countries and use this hydrogen to
02:27 produce electricity for people that are off the electrical grids.
02:34 Such rings, called Ferry Circles, clearly indicate hydrogen deposits.
02:38 When the hydrogen escapes to the atmosphere, then it causes these structures.
02:45 So with the satellite images, we can detect these structures and this is telling us that
02:53 there's hydrogen being generated down there or that it was generated before.
03:00 Individual startups in the US have taken the first risky and difficult step of drilling
03:05 for hydrogen.
03:06 With the help of millions of dollars in financing contributed by investors, driven by the chance
03:12 of huge profits.
03:13 The main reason to do the drilling was to demonstrate that it is possible to extract
03:19 hydrogen from the underground.
03:21 Because I heard from many investors and other people saying that it is too good to be true.
03:29 And it should be demonstrated first that it is feasible.
03:34 Anyone who discovers a large deposit stands to make a lot of money.
03:39 But drilling for hydrogen is a risky business because it has hardly been explored.
03:44 It is still hard to raise capital for natural hydrogen because the risks are still high
03:52 and investors, most of them, are still waiting for small companies to decrease those risks
04:01 and then they will be able to step in and then start making guaranteed profits from
04:08 that technology.
04:13 Geologists estimate that hydrogen would be about as cheap as natural gas if there were
04:18 rich deposits.
04:20 The lucky strike is still a long way off, but it could usher in a new era of energy
04:26 supply.
04:26 (upbeat music)