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Analysis and Environment

How geologic hydrogen went from fringe science to potential green fuel

Just a year ago, few people took seriously the idea that we could extract hydrogen from the ground as a clean energy source - but now the US Department of Energy is injecting $20 million into the concept

By James Dinneen

25 September 2023

Olivine minerals like forsterite can produce hydrogen when interacting with groundwater

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History/USGS

Efforts to extract underground hydrogen for use as a clean fuel have received a huge boost from the US Department of Energy (DoE), which earlier this month announced $20 million in funding to explore the concept. What is behind the rapid rise in interest in this “geologic hydrogen”, which was on the fringes of science less than a year ago?

“We’re on an exponential curve,” says Geoffrey Ellis at the US Geological Survey, whose research has played …

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