The world is running out of gas

[torchthebitch]

No, not gasoline.

World helium reserves are running out, Nobel laureate claims
The world's reserves of helium are running out the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Robert Richardson, has claimed.


Experts have warned that the inert gas is being sold off far too cheaply and that resources could run out within 25 to 30 years.

Prof Richardson has called for America to reconsider its policy to sell off its helium reserves by 2015 as a result.

A US law, passed in 1996, has ruled that the US National Helium Reserve, located in Amarillo, Texas, should be sold off within 20 years.

Helium, a non-renewable resource, is used in MRI scanners (which are cooled by the gas), airships and also by anti-terrorist authorities who used it for their radiation monitors.

It is created by the radioactive decay of terrestrial rock and most of the world's reserves have been derived as a by-product from the extraction of natural gas.

Around 80 per cent of the world's reserves are in the American South-west.

However, because the gas is sold so cheaply there is no incentive to recycle it. Nasa uses enormous quantities to clean its rockets to get rid of explosive fuel but none of the gas is reused.

Prof Richardson, professor of Physics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, co-chaired an inquiry into the impending shortage convened by the US National Research Council, an arm of the US National Academy of Sciences.

He claims that helium should rise by between 20- and 50-fold to make recycling more worthwhile.

Professor Richardson also believes that party balloons filled with helium are too cheap, and they should really cost about £64 to reflect the precious nature of the gas they contain.

He told The Independent: "Once helium is released into the atmosphere in the form of party balloons or boiling helium, it is lost to the Earth for ever, lost to the Earth for ever."

I know it's from Sean's least favourite newspaper, the Torygraph. But they are quoting the Indo. So it should be kosher.

 

[GrumpyOldGoat]

From The Onion?

 

[Sean]

Helium is actually pretty rare. It's light and doesn't bond the same way hydrogen does.

And the Mail is far worse than the Torygraph. I may not like their politics but at least it's a real paper.

 

[butters]

i didn't know any of this stuff. nothing unusual there. thanks torch, for the information.

sigh

best get in some funny voice moments while it's still only a few pounds a pop. but damnit, now i'll feel wasteful

 

[Shagly]

I put off plenty of Methane, what's the problem?

 

[torchthebitch]

Helium is actually pretty rare. It's light and doesn't bond the same way hydrogen does.

And the Mail is far worse than the Torygraph. I may not like their politics but at least it's a real paper.

Second lightest gas (not) in the world. I have to say I was not aware of some of those uses. I always though nitrogen was used to purge fuel lines, but then, rocket fuel and nitrogen might not be exactly compatible now I see that.

 

[torchthebitch]

I put off plenty of Methane, what's the problem?

The H2S you inlude

 

[where]

so no more floaty balloons or comedy voices?

 

[Shagly]

The H2S you inlude

Want more?

 

[Shagly]

Helium is actually pretty rare. It's light and doesn't bond the same way hydrogen does.

And the Mail is far worse than the Torygraph. I may not like their politics but at least it's a real paper.

Or even a SeanH does.

 

[torchthebitch]

so no more floaty balloons or comedy voices?

Given the choice between silly voices and MRIs, we'll take silly voices every time.

 

[torchthebitch]

Want more?

How many people do you know actively choose the "give me more problems" option?

BTW That's a NO.

 

[where]

Given the choice between silly voices and MRIs, we'll take silly voices every time.

well I didn't know they used them on MRIs!

 

[Shagly]

How many people do you know actively choose the "give me more problems" option?

BTW That's a NO.

Thanks.

 

[Peregrinator]

Four years ahead of you, Torchy:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=472715&highlight=helium

 

[GrumpyOldGoat]

Four years ahead of you, Torchy:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=472715&highlight=helium

KRC is on-point in that thread. Second most abundant element.

 

[torchthebitch]

Four years ahead of you, Torchy:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=472715&highlight=helium

For most of this century the world's precious supply of helium has escaped from natural gas wells into the air. Only in 1958 did politicians heed the warnings of influential scientists including John Bardeen, the inventor of the transistor, that all our helium would be gone by 1980. Congress reacted by spending $1 billion--an astonishing sum in the 1950s--on a separation plant in Amarillo, Texas, and began stockpiling helium in empty gas wells

Looks like we are both slow. This is from the first article you quoted. The second was pulished in 2000 and the third in 2002. Four and six years respectively after the Gov decided to sell off the reserves.


Maybe it takes a Nobel Laurate to get the ball rolling again

 

[Mike_Yates]

No, not gasoline.




I know it's from Sean's least favourite newspaper, the Torygraph. But they are quoting the Indo. So it should be kosher.

If the petroleum industry AKA world government cannot find a profitable alternative to gasoline, for the purpose of filling the pockets of executives, CEO's, and stockholders will Millions of dollars, the world will literally come to an end, probably through a full scale thermonuclear war, over money and energy.

I hope the oil industry can find some other means of ruining the environment, destroying lives, and even outright killing, all in the name of money and power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Meyer's_water_fuel_cell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_energy_suppression

^ NOT PROFITABLE!!!! ^

 

[mark197205]

If the petroleum industry AKA world government cannot find a profitable alternative to gasoline, for the purpose of filling the pockets of executives, CEO's, and stockholders will Millions of dollars, the world will literally come to an end, probably through a full scale thermonuclear war, over money and energy.

I hope the oil industry can find some other means of ruining the environment, destroying lives, and even outright killing, all in the name of money and power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Meyer's_water_fuel_cell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_energy_suppression

^ NOT PROFITABLE!!!! ^

Did you even read the OP Mike?
Its NOT about gasoline..

Why am I even bothering?

 

[Songcatcher]

H2O

2 part hydrogen 1 part oxgen.

I think Nikola Telsa can come up with new energy source.

 

[Peregrinator]

KRC is on-point in that thread. Second most abundant element.

In the universe. Not on this planet.

Looks like we are both slow. This is from the first article you quoted. The second was pulished in 2000 and the third in 2002. Four and six years respectively after the Gov decided to sell off the reserves.


Maybe it takes a Nobel Laurate to get the ball rolling again

Maybe, yeah. It's pretty hard to generate concern about something most people see as the filler for birthday balloons. I was thinking back then of starting a "Save The Helium" nonprofit. Like, as a joke.

 

[Peregrinator]

H2O

2 part hydrogen 1 part oxgen.

I think Nikola Telsa can come up with new energy source.

He died in 1943.

 

[KingOrfeo]

He told The Independent: "Once helium is released into the atmosphere in the form of party balloons or boiling helium, it is lost to the Earth for ever, lost to the Earth for ever."

I just hope he said that in a Donald Duck voice.

 

[KingOrfeo]

He died in 1943.

Though with Tesla, you could never be sure . . .

 

[Songcatcher]

He died in 1943.

He wrote them down on paper before he died.

Besides, the Japanese already have the hydrogen tech.

It's supressed because of cunts like Daved Rockerfeller and his General Electric and oil business.

Excuse my sexist wording.