{"id":7831,"date":"2025-05-20T13:50:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T17:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=7831"},"modified":"2026-06-29T20:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T00:39:06","slug":"biggest-treasure-earth-sahara-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/biggest-treasure-earth-sahara-desert\/7831\/","title":{"rendered":"Green hydrogen under the Sahara could power Europe but experts warn of a new era of energy colonialism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The key to a green future may be under the Sahara Desert. With the world constantly searching for renewable energy, the biggest treasure ever seen on Earth can be found below the Sahara’s sands<\/a><\/strong>. Although it is hidden from the people’s sight, specialists and entrepreneurs already know about its existence, but how to achieve this resource is beyond their current knowledge. Besides, it’s practically impossible to reach this treasure without causing major damage to the countries of Saharan Africa around it, some European companies are already interested in ways to explore it.<\/p>\n

A new technology may be the key to achieving a green future<\/h2>\n

It is not the first time that the research for renewable energy has been responsible for the discovery of unseen treasures, but this time, the one found may be far away from our technological capacity. Under the Sahara Desert, the biggest treasure ever seen on Earth may be the key to achieving a green future that leads humanity towards a new era.<\/p>\n

After this discovery, Europe’s eyes turned to Africa in a constant search for ways to reach this treasure, but until now, specialists and entrepreneurs have not been able to find a way to produce it without causing major damage to the Saharan African countries.<\/p>\n

Although the initial plans received a lot of criticism, some companies are already thinking about a new “energy and industrial revolution” led by green hydrogen<\/strong> from Africa. But they face a huge problem: how to transport the hydrogen from Africa to Europe. According to Ben Gallagher, from Wood Mackenzie, relying on green hydrogen from Africa is a way to supply a possible low demand from resources in Europe, but the logistics of transporting the hydrogen produced overseas can be a problem.<\/p>\n

Almost impossible to produce and transport<\/h3>\n

According to the specialist, hydrogen has a low volumetric energy density compared to natural gas. To transport, the gas must be highly pressurized, liquefied, or turned into ammonia. Nowadays, small amounts of green hydrogen are transported after being compressed and put on trucks, but thinking on a large-scale distribution, the process would not be worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Another issue hindering the production of this fuel is the impact caused to communities closer to the extraction points<\/strong>. Between the damage to the environment and communities close to the extraction points, specialists fear a new “neo-colonial” era.<\/p>\n

The EU’s green transition may cause economic problems for African countries<\/h2>\n

Returning to the history of Europe during the colonial era, the economic powers of the countries came from an economic system that extracted wealth, raw materials, and slave labour from the African continent. Despite African colonies’ independence in the 20th century, this system was only transformed and, in some cases, had the help of local post-colonial leaderships<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

With European companies seeking green hydrogen, the fear is that the EU’s transition will mark a new chapter in this explorative economic system. In this case, while the EU receives the benefits of this renewable energy, African countries will suffer from the direct results.<\/p>\n

Past experiences brought negative results to African countries<\/h2>\n

During the past decade, some energy projects have been established between African and European countries, but for specialists, they prove how energy colonialism is reproduced, even with renewable energy. To make a plan for producing and exploring this renewable and green energy without supporting the green colonialism, European countries must search for an economic system that is ecologically sustainable, equitable, and just for both countries. Otherwise, the search for renewable resources will be fated to failure. Also, other projects are seeking renewable resources<\/a>, which can help to undo the current system based on green colonialism<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The key to a green future may be under the Sahara Desert. With the world constantly searching for renewable energy, the biggest treasure ever seen on Earth can be found below the Sahara’s sands. Although it is hidden from the people’s sight, specialists and entrepreneurs already know about its existence, but how to achieve this … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":7837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"Sahara Desert,energy,Earth,mine,green hydrogen,africa","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"The key to a green future relies on a treasure hidden under the Sahara Desert, but to reach it specialists must discover how to mine these resources.","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}