Comment by sixhobbits

12 hours ago

I really enjoyed this oddlots podcast episode that covered similar points and had a lot of "wat" moments for me, including the US selling off its strategic helium reserves at a loss because politicians labeled it "party baloon reserve", and how long it takes to produce naturally and how hard it is to find, process and transport.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bjc6MgUY0BE

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sixhobbits

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parineum  12 hours ago

Part of the reason there's a shortage is because the US was the main supplier. There was no market incentive for anyone to invest into helium extraction.

It'd be like if the US used it's strategic oil reserve to supply the US with oil at a low price at all times.

A strategic reserve isn't supposed to be used as a supply. The existence of a strategic reserve shouldn't have an effect on the supply of helium except in an emergency. The fact that selling the helium reserve could create a shortage should tell you that it wasn't being used as a reserve but as a supply.

The US was, essentially, artificial subsidizing the price of helium. What's happening now is that people are actually paying the real price of helium.

  • marcosdumay  12 hours ago

    The US government decided (maybe correctly, IDK) some years ago that their strategic helium reserves were too high (and thus expensive).

    There were several announcements, a lot of discussion, and a long process before they started selling it. It was also a temporary action, with a well known end-date (that TBH, I never looked at). It had a known and constant small pressure over investments, it wasn't something that destabilized a market.

  • logifail  39 minutes ago

    > The existence of a strategic reserve shouldn't have an effect on the supply of helium except in an emergency.

    Is there a widely-accepted definition of "an emergency" in the context of strategic reserves?

    [Thinking of the SPR] "Oil/gas prices are currently higher due to geopolitical events, my [potential] voters are getting increasingly unhappy, and there is an election soon" would probably constitute an "an emergency" in the mind of a typical politician and his/her advisors.

    Whether eg the SPR was created to (indirectly) help politicians keep their jobs is debatable.

amelius  11 hours ago

I'm guessing you can find a supply of helium near the top of the atmosphere :)

  • dmitrygr  11 hours ago

    Turns out -- no, it permanently escapes to space with the help of the solar wind

    • DoctorOetker  3 hours ago

      http://wordpress.mrreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/atmos...

      the density is low though

      observe that where Helium becomes a significant percentage, there is also Hydrogen and (monoatomic) Oxygen.

      if one were driven by purism or vanity for stoichiometric exactness, then at a height of 1000 km theres 2 Hydrogens per Oxygen atom, so this could be reacted to water, and the energy used to power compression of the Helium, the water would freeze.

      without this vanity, helium becomes a significant fraction at much lower heights... and thus higher densities.

      The energy to compress becomes nearly insignificant at low pressures.

      if humanity ever builds space elevators, this will be one of many benefits of having space elevators.

    • zozbot234  10 hours ago

      The overall amount of helium in the atmosphere is still more than enough for the foreseeable future, and it could be extracted (albeit at high energy cost) by augmenting existing air separation units (ASU's). Of course natural gas wells currently provide an easier to extract source, seeing as the concentration there is way higher.

      6 replies →

    • dguest  10 hours ago

      Space is at the top of the atmosphere right? That place is full of stars producing helium by the teragram.

      GP ain't wrong, but the phrasing implied we'd have it closer by than it actually is.

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