Let’s hope gold hydrogen’s potential as a green fuel matches the hype

HYDROGEN is the most abundant element in the universe and yet, for a long time, it wasn’t thought to be particularly plentiful in its free form – as a reactive gas – here on Earth. Prospectors drilling for oil and methane sometimes discovered natural hydrogen in their wells, and it was found seeping out in odd places, such as the perpetual flames of Turkey’s Mount Chimaera. But most experts assumed that underground accumulations of naturally occurring hydrogen were small and rare.

Not any more. In the past couple of years, new detections of natural hydrogen and a better understanding of how it…