Stealing my own comment from HN on this:<p>That article reads a lot like "Peak Oil" concerns. There is a lot of Helium available - [1] The global reserves of helium are known to be approximately 41 billion cubic meters. Most of them lie in Qatar, Algeria, the USA and Russia. Annual global production of helium is about 175 million cubic meters, and the USA remains the largest producer. "<p>Regardless, this is something the market can correct for very, very easily. As helium supply becomes more scarce, the price will go up, resulting in greater supply. Most of it comes from natural gas, and is so cheap [2] it's not worth capturing. Oil trades for around $100/barrel. Helium trades at $100 for a thousand cubic feet (albeit in gas form)<p>Some of the problems with Helium is that Physics experiments use a LOT, and previously was so cheap that it wasn't worth trying to conserve. That's changing - [3] A recycling system can recapture about $12,000/year of lost helium for a single scientist.<p>From reading articles - apparently the problems isn't so much that the cost of helium is increasing - but that it's been so cheap because of the US Natural Reserves making it completely non-competitive to capture - they are basically giving the stuff away for next to nothing.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.gazprominfo.com/articles/helium/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gazprominfo.com/articles/helium/</a><p>[2] <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/airgas-increase-prices-helium-20-164550580.html" rel="nofollow">http://finance.yahoo.com/news/airgas-increase-prices-helium-...</a> <i>And on Friday, the bureau announced that it was raising the price for a thousand cubic feet for crude helium from $84 to $95</i><p>[3] <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/united-states-extends-life-of-helium-reserve-1.13819" rel="nofollow">http://www.nature.com/news/united-states-extends-life-of-hel...</a>
One part of this I've never understood: I'm often told that I shouldn't buy or enjoy helium balloons, as it's a waste of important helium. But such a balloon costs almost nothing, if helium is so scarce and so important, shouldn't that be reflected in the price?<p>At least that's how stocks work. If something will be in high demand/price in the future, it will shift and be in high demand now.
Rare earth metals were talked about in a similar manner very recently. Other sources were found, and as a result, the alarm eased. One thing about rare earth metals is that they can be a byproduct of metal production, but this process is often ignored because the cost of the additional step can be more expensive than the resulting output.<p>One thing people seem to not know is that helium is a common discarded byproduct of oil extraction. Nuclear fission in the earth's core produces it, and it gathers in porous underground oil reservoirs. I'd bet my life that as prices of helium go up, these deposits get more attention paid to them.<p>I'm not convinced that a shortage of helium will be a crisis.
To quote my own answer on that question:<p>No: we will never run out of helium, it's just a question of price (which is likely to go up).<p>There is a method of actually producing helium: as a product of nuclear decay, smaller quantities of helium (He) could be made in nuclear power plants.<p>Nevertheless, as @ghshepard says, in the short and medium-term supply will simply come from other natural gas fields if/when the price goes up.<p>The Helium-scarcity misunderstanding is the same as with almost every other historical feared resource depletion. At current prices and production methods, supply is finite, but at higher price points, new production methods become economically viable.<p>A higher helium price means two things: reduced demand by shifting to substitutes and increased production by using more expensive production technologies (and of course, if the price goes up more people will try to innovate cheaper solutions).<p>Today helium is practically free. While we would never run out of Helium, it is not unlikely that at some point prices may go up for a while. That, however, is not really such a big deal.<p><a href="http://www.quora.com/Are-we-really-running-out-of-helium/answer/Sondre-Rasch" rel="nofollow">http://www.quora.com/Are-we-really-running-out-of-helium/ans...</a>
For those interested in helium's price history, cost per thousand cubic feet, 1999 - 2011 rose from $42 to $160, or 3.8x.<p><a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/helium-prices.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/helium...</a>
This is one of those questions I use to see if sites know how to research a topic. We have proven reserves to last at current consumption rates for 300 years. A little googling leads you to the facts, which is that we have plenty of helium to last a long, long time. A plant is coming online that will provide nearly the entire planets consumption of helium for then next 50 years. And this is just with places where we <i>know</i> we can get helium out of the earth. We put helium in balloons because it is so cheap because of abundance. It is almost as bad as when I hear cries of the "coming phosphorus shortage".
As an active scuba diver I feel sort of bad about breathing helium knowing that it's a non-renewable resource. For a single dive in the 50m depth range I'll typically use something like 1000l of He (as measured at standard temperature and pressure). The retail price has gone up by a factor of 3 in the past several years so while it's still somewhat affordable we clearly won't be able to continue doing open-circuit technical diving indefinitely. Some of my friends have switched to closed-circuit rebreathers that use very little helium but those are far more dangerous.
Correct me if I'm wrong but are not hydrogen and helium two of the most abundant elements in the galaxy? If we ever were to let it all float into outer space (if that's even possible) by then couldn't we just harvest it in space? I know that's by no means cost effective with today's technology but we're talking decades before we might actually run out right.
Similar concerns were raised when China embargoed rare metals. In reality, the industry adapted smoothly and it's not the topic anymore.<p>And yes, strictly per economic theory (which is very practical) we will never run out of Helium. Just the price will rise up to the point when alternatives (and a research into) will became economical.
For the last time, you idiot: it's not hydrogen, it's HELIUM!<p>And what about that are you still not getting, exactly?<p>Well, obviously the core concept, Lana!
I purchased about 30 helium-filled balloons for my 3-year old's birthday party for about $10.<p>So I would say that no, we're not running out of helium, by any meaningful definition of "running out".
Offtopic<p>This post is a proof that the right time of a post is crucial to popularity. I posted the same link ( actually I'm not sure how HN passed this one through ) a couple of months ago [1] and it was not as popular ;)<p>1: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8884999" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8884999</a>
A good example on how bad quora is.<p>The top current answer is basically<p>> there is no way to cheaply make more<p>Which applies to anything in existence, everything will run out, hence a pointless waste of time statement that moronic philosophers pull out when they are ignorant on the topic.<p>Later links are more interesting, like -<p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/08/27/what-great-helium-shortage/" rel="nofollow">http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/08/27/what-grea...</a>