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Helium is an essential material for research and medical equipment, but it’s nonrenewable and difficult to recycle (theconversation.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I suspect that the frivolousness with which we currently release waste helium will look pretty stupid future generations. Wherever liquid helium is used as a coolant, we should be installing recovery systems to capture and recondense the helium. With the appropriate safety precautions, hydrogen can be used as a lifting gas for blimps and balloons. I can't think of any applications which require helium to be released into the atmosphere to float away into space forever.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

You're forgetting that the act of science is political, in the sense that science must be conducted under the existing political framework. The very easy solution of recapturing helium is more expensive than just letting it float off.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Good point. I suppose as the supply of helium dwindles, market forces will naturally make recapture systems more economical.