

The coming shortage of helium and how government policy is creating it. - stretchwithme
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=the-coming-shortage-of-helium-2010-06-30
There's a mandate that sales cover the costs associated with the helium reserves, so they've lowered the price to increase the sales in the short run without regard to the long term strategic value of having a huge chunk of a limited world supply.
======
Robin_Message
That is a nasty linkbait-y retitling. As far as the Helium Privatisation Act
goes, the government was being accused of "waste" in 1996 when it was sitting
on a vast stockpile of helium (from prior military uses.) It decided to sell
it off over a controlled period so as to not depress the price excessively and
put private suppliers out of business. They gave themselves the deadline of
2015 to have it all sold, presumabley so as to reduce the government debt in a
reasonable time frame. [1]

Now it seems that helium is much more valuable but the price is depressed
because this stockpile has to be sold by 2015. So something that made sense at
the time now doesn't, and a new act is needed to say they can take longer to
sell the helium. Government fail? Only if they don't change the policy.

Oh, and the HPA almost unanimously approved by Congress (411-10, with 12 not
voting.) [2]

EDIT TO ADD: I am grumpy about this because titles like that generally go with
the articles along the lines of "nasty government interfering with the
market." But in this case, the report wants the government to be the
government, to act strategically, not to sell at the market price but above
it, and generally to interfere. The 1996 Act stopped the government doing its
job in order to cut perceived waste and debt. The act should never have passed
congress in the first place, or at least not in such a fixed way, but it did
because it fitted people's stupid, prejudiced narrative that the government is
too "big".

[1] [http://www.helium.com/items/874929-understanding-the-
helium-...](http://www.helium.com/items/874929-understanding-the-helium-
privitization-act-of-1996)

[2]
[http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/104/house/2/vote...](http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/104/house/2/votes/137/)

~~~
pbhjpbhj
>So something that made sense at the time now doesn't, and a new act is needed
to say they can take longer to sell the helium.

This sort of thing shouldn't require an act of congress/parliament.

A general rule of not selling >$Y of goods that are above X% of the yearly
market without treasury approval would seem more sensible.

~~~
stretchwithme
The post office can't even stop delivering mail on Saturday without an act of
Congress. The wheels of bureaucracy continue to turn despite whatever signals
the market sends.

------
binarymax
Is helium being used not only because it is inert but for its other properties
as well? I mean if an application just needs an inert gas could it use argon
instead?

~~~
phreeza
It plays a big role in cryogenics, too. Helium is the standard way of cooling
(non-HTC) superconductors down to operating temperature.

~~~
narkee
Right on. MRIs need liquid helium to cool their superconducting magnet, and
they need to be topped up every so often, to accommodate boil-off. It's
getting pricier to do so, increasing the cost of an already expensive
apparatus.

------
phreeza
OK so how does one profit from this? I have tried to find a way to buy Helium
futures before, but haven't been able to. Does anyone know where/how this is
possible?

~~~
mhb
Why would you think that it's a better idea to buy helium now than it was to
buy lithium before the recent discovery of large lithium deposits in
Afghanistan?

~~~
phreeza
I don't follow... More lithium was found, whereas helium is going to become
scarce. What do the two have in common?

~~~
harshpotatoes
Well, we could always find another large deposit of helium in some
undiscovered salt mine. Unlikely, but there are still parts of the earth
largely unsurveyed. So maybe. After that, maybe in 50 years we'll start mining
helium3 from the moon, or producing it ourselves in a fusion reactor.

~~~
phreeza
From what I understand, He-3 would actually be consumed in plausible energy-
netting fusion reactions, which is the reason for the whole lunar mining
speculation. I think prices would need to be pretty steep before lunar mining
makes economic sense.

~~~
harshpotatoes
The reaction you're thinking of is: Deuterium + He3 -> proton + He4 + energy.
So the reaction also yields helium. Helium is a very common product from
fusion reactions. We can produce it now, just not in very large quantities.
But cryogenics have money, and a need for helium, meaning they might be
willing to pay for it being produced in such a way in the future.

~~~
evgen
Given the amount of energy that is produced for every atom of helium you are
getting this is an unlikely path to adding to the global helium reserves. We
would be able to power a small country with the energy that would be produced
in the course of getting enough helium to fill a small blimp.

------
cstuder
Dammit, what shall I fill my blimp with now? Hot air?

~~~
rmundo
I was just wondering earlier today how long world helium reserves could last.
For airships a 90% reduction in carbon emissions won't matter if helium
becomes the economic bottleneck. Sort of depressing how soon we seem to be
reaching a point where depletion of earth resources is inevitable.

Hydrogen would be interesting if we could make it safe enough. It could double
as a fuel source for the ships, too.

~~~
Groxx
Unless we find a way to make profitable fusion.

