[fragmede]

That's where the government reguli could step in. It wasn't economically viable to capture natural gas so it's just flared off, but if the government fines oil companies for flaring off the natural gas, suddenly it's economically viable to capture it instead of wasting it.

[westurner]

It's economical to capture and sell the Helium out of natural gas even without a flaring penalty to encourage to be efficient with heat and material outputs.

It's also already economical to make Hydrogen and Carbon-based products like Graphene and spec Oxidized Carbon Nanotubes from natural gas.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48946629

And, it's surely also profitable to make more He3, He4, and T with a fusion reactor: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48946533

[jstanley]

> if the government fines oil companies for flaring off the natural gas, suddenly it's economically viable to capture it instead of wasting it.

If the government fines individuals for not digging holes in their back garden every day then suddenly it's economically viable to dig holes in your back garden every day, but it doesn't mean it's overall productive.