Could natural hydrogen discovered in France be the fuel of the future?

It's often touted as the energy of the future, but making commercial hydrogen is an energy-intensive and polluting process. The recent discovery of natural hydrogen reservoirs in France, but also in Australia and the United States, could change that.

Hydrogen usually comes from fossil fuels, in the form of methane gas or water. Extracting it requires breaking chemical bonds apart using electricity. 

The energy industry uses a colour code to describe the source of power used in that process. Grey is when it’s produced with fossil fuels, pink for nuclear power, and green for when the energy used comes from renewable sources like wind or solar.

Now enter natural or white hydrogen. It's created organically in the Earth’s crust, like a hydrogen factory continuously generating the carbon-free gas. Burning it only emits heat and water. 

Understanding how and where it forms has become of strategic importance, as scientists have high hopes that in the years to come, natural hydrogen could help us replace fossil fuels. 

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