Should we raise helium prices?
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| Photo: Pslawinski |
The world is running out of helium.
At 2008 usage rates, it’s estimated that the world’s helium supply would only last for another 25 years. Take a minute to digest that.
I came across a memorable quote from Robert C. Richardson, 1996 Nobel Prize winner in physics and Cornell physics professor, a credible source who has devoted much of his life’s research to helium. “That which God has taken 4.7 billion years to create will be dissipated in a little more than 100 years,” Richardson stressed.
The question is: what can be done? To address the anticipated shortage, should the price of helium be regulated to control usage? Richardson says a 20-fold increase in the price of helium would be about right. The idea may not be easy to swallow, but in the best case scenario, higher costs would fuel innovation—finding ways to recycle helium and finding alternative gases to replace helium, like using argon in welding. It goes back to the famous quip, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
Higher costs for helium may not be an attractive solution, but it is better than the alternative of completely depleting the world’s helium supply. But hey, in another 4.7 billion years, everything will be back to normal.
Do you think it’s a good/bad idea? Is there a better solution than raising the cost? Tell me what you think.
Tags: energy, helium, helium shortage
