The admirable superhero Iron Man,

does not possess the Hulk’s genetic mutation,

nor is he a born god like Thor,

as an ordinary human,

how can he fight alongside these extraordinary beings?

The secret lies in Iron Man’s chest,

that small controllable nuclear fusion reactor,

which grants humanity the power to rival the gods,

This is also the keyword of this episode sponsored by Kunlun Mountain Mineral Water

“Hello, Mr. Sai” – Energy! Today, human society is at a critical juncture of significant transformation,

where most energy is derived from fossil fuels,

looking to the future,

countless renewable and new energy sources are emerging,

regarding energy, how to store it?

What energy directions are available for humanity in the future?

What are their characteristics and advantages?

How to address the risks and challenges?

With these questions in mind,

this episode features Academician Yang Chunhe from the Chinese Academy of Engineering,

to unlock the answers to humanity’s future energy.

Overcoming the Natural Gas Storage Challenge Across Millennia

According to historical records, China is the earliest country to use natural gas. Over two thousand years ago, Li Bing discovered natural gas wells while drilling during his tenure as the governor of Shu County, a millennium earlier than the West.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang invented a method to guide gas using bamboo, creating bamboo pipelines by hollowing out the middle, one end inserted into a “fire well” and the other leading to households for salt boiling, thus creating the world’s earliest natural gas transportation pipeline.

Although the wise ancients were the first to extract and use natural gas and mastered basic transportation methods, how to store natural gas has always been an unsolved major problem.

The significant research topic of how to store natural gas has been tackled by Academician Yang Chunhe in contemporary times. The well-known West-to-East Gas Transmission project relies on long pipeline transportation, which can only be realized based on the establishment of gas storage facilities. Academician Yang and his team have overcome numerous technical challenges, connecting the extraction, transportation, storage, and utilization of natural gas into a complete chain.The “Starry Sea” Deep Underground

This episode features Academician Yang Chunhe, a rock mechanics expert and pioneer of underground salt cavern gas storage in China. In the sharing segment, he discusses his decades-long research journey in underground salt cavern gas storage.

After mining salt, the large underground spaces left behind can form huge gas storage facilities through gas injection and brine discharge. It is both a natural mining project and a construction project for gas storage facilities.

In 1999, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering from the University of Nevada, USA, but resolutely returned to his homeland and devoted himself to the research of underground oil and gas storage in salt caverns.

When Academician Yang proposed the idea of using underground space to store natural gas, it was not well received, as at that time, China’s engineering construction and foundational research in this area were almost non-existent. Many peer experts even thought Yang was daydreaming.

The more challenging reality was that the geological structure of China’s salt layers was more complex than imagined, with poor geological conditions, thin rock layers, numerous interlayers, and dark cores. Building a storage facility under such conditions was as difficult as climbing a ladder to the sky; in foreign countries, such geological conditions would lead to an immediate abandonment of the project.

Academician Yang was determined not to give up. To understand the geological conditions of China’s salt mines, he and his team traveled across 17 regions in China, leaving their footprints in every possible salt mine for building storage facilities.

Efforts do not betray the diligent. After collecting a large number of rock salt samples and conducting repeated comparisons and precise calculations, along with extensive indoor and field tests, a definitive conclusion was reached: China’s salt layers, in terms of both sealing and stability, are completely reliable for strategic oil and gas reserves.

Academician Yang and his team pioneered horizontal cavity construction, overcoming the shortcomings of thin salt layers, and the expansion of gas storage in salt caverns overcame the high impurity issues. Thus, China’s salt cavern gas storage began its unique construction path.

For twenty years, Academician Yang and his team have built over 100 salt cavern gas storage facilities across China, allowing salt cavern gas storage to take root and flourish in China!

Each underground salt cavern is like a “treasure gourd” storing everything. In the future, it can not only store gas and electricity but also oil, hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, liquid flow batteries, etc. Each salt cavern is an underground bank of energy for China’s future.

The opportunity for a global energy revolution is at hand. China not only aims to be a major energy country but also a strong energy nation. As a scientific worker in underground energy reserves, Academician Yang always feels a sense of urgency.

But he firmly believes that every step taken today in exploring underground resources is broadening the living space for future generations. For this great goal, researchers like Academician Yang, engaged in energy work, always keep their heads down and forge ahead, for his starry sea is not above but deep within the land beneath our feet.

In 2007, the Jintan gas storage facility officially began operation, marking the first underground salt cavern gas storage facility in China and even Asia. This gas storage facility, buried over 1000 meters underground, has a cumulative gas extraction volume exceeding 5 billion cubic meters, sufficient to meet the peak gas demand of 1600 households in the Yangtze River Delta region.

In June of this year, the Jianghan salt cavern natural gas storage facility in Qianjiang City—Wangchu 1 well officially began gas injection, marking the second ultra-deep well to start gas injection in the Jianghan salt cavern natural gas storage facility, reaching a depth of 2000 meters. As Asia’s largest salt cavern gas storage facility, the Jianghan salt cavern natural gas storage facility has a total design capacity of 4.809 billion cubic meters, which can reserve gas for more than half a year for the people of Hubei.Innovative New Energy Ideas

The beautiful life desired by humanity is inseparable from sufficient energy supply, and the ideal energy should be environmentally friendly and efficient.

This episode features science popularization writers, Dr. Bao Kun from Cornell University, Dr. Qi Miao from Tsinghua University, and graduate student Yang Haochen from Beijing Normal University, three “young science and technology enthusiasts” who share innovative ideas and discuss the future directions of new energy for humanity.

Harnessing Energy from the Ocean: Wave energy generation, as the name suggests, is a method of generating electricity using the kinetic energy of ocean waves. It fully collects the waves at sea, converts them into hydraulic energy, and then transforms hydraulic energy into electricity. In July of this year, China’s first megawatt-level floating wave energy generation device, “Nankun”, was put into operation, which is also the world’s first megawatt-level floating power generation device, with a maximum daily power generation capacity of 24,000 kilowatt-hours, enough to supply 3,500 households, equivalent to a giant offshore power bank.

Harnessing Energy from Underground: Numerous thermal nuclear reactions and radioactive decays occur within the Earth at all times, and there are many molten magma within the Earth’s crust, which contain abundant geothermal energy. Geothermal resources have a potential 100 times greater than hydropower. It is not only a clean energy source without pollution but can also be renewable if the heat extraction rate does not exceed the replenishment rate.

Harnessing Energy from Space: In space, solar energy is converted into electricity and then transmitted to the ground power system through wireless energy transmission. The proposal to build space solar power stations arises from the increasing urgency of humanity’s demand for new clean energy. The stability of wind and water energy is affected by seasons and geographical locations, while solar energy, due to its vast quantity and inexhaustible advantages, can become a pillar of future energy supply.

On the land beneath our feet, in the sky above us, and in the waves around us… places that break our imagination and cognition may hold the potential for new energy.

Kunlun Mountain Mineral Water “Hello, Mr. Sai”

Following the path of “discovering problems – exploring answers”

In the rigorous and pragmatic scientific attitude,

Leading the audience to experience the path of scientific truth immersively

November 10, Friday at 21:20,

Lock in Hubei TV Kunlun Mountain Mineral Water “Hello, Mr. Sai”,

And together with the academicians,

Ask questions about science, the world, and the future!