What is 'sufficient'? How long a view are you taking on this?
With small percentages of natural gas containing helium (0-7%), much of what's currently coming up isn't being captured or is only now starting to be in Qatar and Russia. The rest is just let go, and once helium get's into the air it's over.
Luckily, as you suggested, prices going up means people are starting to build helium recycling systems. However congress made them artificially low and thus speed up unnecessary wastage of this precious resource.
If you're only concerned about the next 200 years, can you imagine if that was the same attitude in the 1600's? What would we have now?
Now imagine if we really are all flying around in giant helium aircraft because oil has run out or is too expensive... how much helium is getting used up for that purpose alone? There's far more natural gas/oil than helium.
With small percentages of natural gas containing helium (0-7%), much of what's currently coming up isn't being captured or is only now starting to be in Qatar and Russia. The rest is just let go, and once helium get's into the air it's over.
Luckily, as you suggested, prices going up means people are starting to build helium recycling systems. However congress made them artificially low and thus speed up unnecessary wastage of this precious resource.
If you're only concerned about the next 200 years, can you imagine if that was the same attitude in the 1600's? What would we have now?
Now imagine if we really are all flying around in giant helium aircraft because oil has run out or is too expensive... how much helium is getting used up for that purpose alone? There's far more natural gas/oil than helium.