USGS releases first-ever map of potential for geologic hydrogen in U.S. [View all]
Map showing prospectivity of geologic hydrogen in the conterminous United States. Public Domain. Map created by USGS.
USGS releases first-ever map of potential for geologic hydrogen in U.S.
USGS.gov | January 16, 2025
RESTON, Va. — The U.S. Geological Survey today published the first map of the prospective locations of naturally-occurring geologic hydrogen resources in the contiguous United States, reflecting a systematic analysis of geologic conditions favorable for hydrogen that draws on a newly developed methodology.
The map is the first of its kind at continental scale anywhere, showing likely underground areas to explore for geologic hydrogen. It reveals areas of interest that have the potential to hold accumulations of geologic hydrogen, including a mid-continent region that covers Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan, the Four Corners states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, the California coast, and areas along the Eastern seaboard.
“For decades, the conventional wisdom was that naturally occurring hydrogen did not accumulate in sufficient quantities to be used for energy purposes,” said Sarah Ryker, USGS associate director for energy and minerals.
“This map is tantalizing because it shows that several parts of the U.S. could have a subsurface hydrogen resource after all.”
In a
recent paper, USGS geologists Geoff Ellis and Sarah Gelman estimated large potential for — and large uncertainty about — the amount of hydrogen accumulations in the world.
“We calculate the energy content of this estimated recoverable amount of hydrogen to be roughly twice the amount of energy in all the proven natural gas reserves on Earth,” Ellis and Gelman wrote in their recent
Science Advances paper...more
https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/usgs-releases-first-ever-map-potential-geologic-hydrogen-us
Science.org: Model predictions of global geologic hydrogen resources
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado0955