# There may be a source of clean energy under Iowa's surface

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/river-to-river-1060576/there-may-be-a-source-of-clean-energy-under-iowa-s-surface
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/river-to-river-1060576/there-may-be-a-source-of-clean-energy-under-iowa-s-surface.md
Podcast: [River to River](https://stenobird.com/podcast/river-to-river-1060576)
Published: 2026-07-03T12:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/river-to-river/2026-07-03/there-may-be-a-source-of-clean-energy-under-iowas-surface
Audio file: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/4c9587f2-e550-4709-b293-ad0300ce922d/5d200c83-8a20-48a7-ab87-ad51012cafbe/37e74e03-5054-4bc1-8af5-b47b0112bfe7/audio.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/river-to-river-1060576/episodes/there-may-be-a-source-of-clean-energy-under-iowa-s-surface
Duration seconds: 2870

## Resource

Iowa's farmland sits on more than soil — deep underground may be the makings of a clean energy economy. On this episode, we go beneath Iowa's surface to talk about a billion-year-old rock formation where geologic hydrogen is hiding. We talk with Ryan Clark, associate state geologist at the Iowa Geological Survey and Betsy Swanner, an Iowa State University professor of Earth, atmosphere and climate to find out what it would take to actually build a hydrogen economy in Iowa. Then, Iowa State University agronomist Jianming Yu shares what artificial intelligence and citizen science reveal about how plants adapt to their environments.

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## Transcript

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