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We are still running out. All this claims is that we may have a little more in reserve than previously thought. Helium still floats up into space unrecoverably
by yummypaint 7y ago
We are still running out. All this claims is that we may have a little more in reserve than previously thought. Helium still floats up into space unrecoverably when released. The article contains this information, but the headline is wrong.
- perl4ever 7y agoAccording to the first source I found, helium escapes into space at about 50 grams per second, for the entire planet. It seems at least possible that it is being produced at a greater rate than that, by radioactive decay. http://faculty.washington.edu/dcatling/Catling2009_SciAm.pdf http://faculty.washington.edu/dcatling/Catling2009_SciAm.pdf
- lidHanteyk 7y agoAs I have heard it, the cost of recovering helium from the upper atmosphere is daunting and nowhere near reasonable prices.
- gamblor956 7y agoFor now...until it becomes rare enough to be worth the cost.
- jeffdavis 7y agoHow is that relevant? If the production is happening deep inside Earth, we can capture it before it makes it to the atmosphere.
- mnky9800n 7y agoThe problem is that we stopped doing exactly this leading to the shortage
- aaron695 7y ago> We are still running out. Citation needed. > Helium still floats up into space unrecoverably when released The sun also burns unrecoverably, we don't say solar is running out. https://www.gasworld.com/global-helium-summit-2018-closes/2015512.article https://www.gasworld.com/global-helium-summit-2018-closes/20...
- Accujack 7y agoNo, we've never been running out. The government liquidating the strategic reserve distorted the price, but it will adjust. Helium is produced from natural gas wells but with the prices for the gas where they have been for so long no one bothers to capture it - it's not worth it, it's just vented to the atmosphere and escapes. So "running out of helium" basically means "running out of cheap helium and the price will go up until it establishes a balance with the cost of producing it from the ground instead of a government storage tank". For as long as we get natural gas out of the ground, we will have helium.
- dogpuncher 7y agoThis squares nicely with my understanding of what "reserves" are when talking about extractive resources. Namely, the known quantity of a resource that can be extracted in an economical viable manner using current technologies. So there are a number of variables that can affect the size of a reserve that have nothing to do with how much of the resource is known to exist.
- RandallBrown 7y agoThe helium reserve they're talking about is an actual facility that stores helium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Helium_Reserve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Helium_Reserve
- abacadaba 7y agoSo what ~50 years? I often wonder what it will be like for the next intelligent species/civilization that develops on earth. With all the easily accessible resources already mined will get get stuck in the steampunk age? Sure there might still some left where we could find it with advanced equipment, but not if you're just starting out. Do planets essentially get one shot at advanced civilization?
- minitoar 7y agoThe 2nd shot is detailed in Dune.
- nitwit005 7y agoAny usage of Helium could be described as "running out" as it's not renewable without expensive reclamation from the air.