A groundbreaking new study has revealed a potentially game-changing discovery beneath the Earth’s surface—a massive, untapped reservoir of hydrogen that could revolutionize the global energy landscape. According to scientists, approximately 6.2 trillion tons of hydrogen are stored in rocks and underground reservoirs, a quantity far exceeding the size of known oil reserves by a factor of 261. This remarkable find could offer a sustainable solution to the world’s energy needs and play a crucial role in combating climate change.

The research, led by Geoffrey Ellis, a petroleum geochemist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), was published in the journal Science Advances. The study estimates that just a small fraction of this underground hydrogen could have profound implications for the global energy future. According to Ellis, extracting merely 2% of this hydrogen—equivalent to 124 billion tons—could supply all the hydrogen needed for net-zero carbon goals for centuries. This amount contains nearly twice the energy stored in all the known natural gas reserves on Earth.

“Just 2% of the hydrogen stocks found in this study would supply all the hydrogen we need to achieve net-zero emissions for several hundred years,” Ellis told LiveScience. This discovery significantly alters how we view hydrogen as an energy source and its potential for large-scale applications.

Hydrogen, a clean energy carrier, has diverse uses in various sectors, including fueling vehicles, powering industrial processes, and generating electricity. With growing global efforts to address climate change, hydrogen is projected to play a key role in the future energy mix, potentially contributing up to 30% of energy supply in some industries.

This research challenges the long-standing belief that hydrogen, being a small and highly mobile molecule, easily escapes through pores and cracks in rocks. Historically, it was assumed that hydrogen would be too difficult to trap underground in significant quantities. However, recent discoveries of large hydrogen reserves in West Africa and an Albanian chromium mine have begun to shift this understanding.

Ellis and his colleague, Sarah Gelman, developed a model to estimate the global hydrogen reserves, taking into account various factors like production rates, the amount of hydrogen likely trapped in geological formations, and losses due to processes like atmospheric leakage. Their model predicts a broad range of hydrogen reserves, from 1 billion to 10 trillion tons, with the most likely estimate being 6.2 trillion tons.

While these figures are promising, Ellis cautions that much of this hydrogen may be difficult to access due to factors like depth or offshore locations. Additionally, some reserves may be too small to be extracted economically. Nevertheless, the sheer scale of the estimated reserves suggests that, even with these challenges, there could still be abundant hydrogen available for exploitation.

One of the main advantages of natural hydrogen compared to synthetic hydrogen production methods (such as “green” or “blue” hydrogen) is its immediate availability. “We don’t have to worry about storage, as we do with green or blue hydrogen,” Ellis explained. “With natural hydrogen, you could simply open a valve and access the gas whenever it’s needed.” This eliminates the logistical challenge of storing hydrogen, which is a key concern in current hydrogen production systems.

Despite the scale of the discovery, the exact locations of these hydrogen reserves remain largely unknown. To address this, Ellis and his team are working on narrowing down the geological conditions that are most favorable for underground hydrogen accumulation. Preliminary results for the U.S. are expected to be available by early next year, which may provide crucial insights into where further exploration efforts should focus.

While the potential of this discovery is immense, experts urge caution. Professor Bill McGuire from University College London cautioned that extracting hydrogen on a scale large enough to make a significant impact on emissions would require a massive global initiative—one for which there may not be enough time. Additionally, McGuire highlighted the need for substantial infrastructure investments to support such an endeavor. He also questioned whether exploiting another finite resource is the best approach, given the growing availability of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

The discovery of vast natural hydrogen reserves beneath the Earth’s surface presents an exciting new opportunity for the energy sector. Although challenges remain, including identifying and accessing these reserves, the scale of the hydrogen stocks suggests they could play a pivotal role in the global transition to cleaner energy. As the world continues to search for sustainable solutions to reduce carbon emissions, natural hydrogen may become an integral part of the energy mix, helping to pave the way for a more sustainable future.

By Impact Lab