this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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Helium is a non-renewable substance which there is a global shortage of. I wonder how much it takes to lift that thing ๐
Wouldn't hydrogen be better for lifting something like a wind turbine.
Not necessarily. It's not about the boom factor alone - hydrogen is a small atom, and so under pressure, most commonly used materials are permeable to it. It leaks through every material. It really takes something as solid as steel pipes for hydrogen atoms to not work their way through and escape. So while hydrogen would be cheaper to produce at scale, it's also constantly leaking out of any container.
For wind turbines, static electricity and storms would be huge risks as well, so the application of a floating wind turbine would not be ideal.
Helium does a pretty good job of that too.