Author: Michael Barnard

ChatGPT generated image of a modern container ship docked at an industrial port with alcohol fuel storage tanks and shore power connections, illustrating emerging clean bunkering infrastructure

Hybrid Electric Ships and the Alcohol Fuel Convergence

In recent weeks I have published on the end game economics of maritime fuels, why decarbonizing maritime shipping won’t be inflationary, and why most battery electric shipping studies were already obsolete. Those pieces generated a steady stream of questions that were more specific than the original arguments, as well as … [continued]

Chatgpt generated illustration of the low per ton cargo carbon cost impacts

Maritime Decarbonization Without Inflation

A reader of my recent end game maritime fuels piece asked a simple question. If Europe keeps pushing carbon prices higher, and if policymakers model €150, €300, or even higher per ton of CO2 in long term guidance, does shipping become inflationary? Does decarbonizing maritime trade raise the cost of … [continued]

Chatgpt generated comparison of grey, blue, and green ammonia pathways.

Grey, Blue, or Green: The Real Ammonia Math

Equinor’s decision to halt its blue hydrogen project in Groningen is not a story about engineering failure or lack of public support. It is a story about the absence of customers. The H2M project secured support from the EU Innovation Fund and was positioned as a cornerstone of industrial decarbonization … [continued]

Chatgpt generated depiction of the Netherlands pivoting from hydrogen to battery electric buses.

Peak Fuel Cell Bus Deliveries in the EU Occurred in 2025

Transport & Environment’s latest European city bus market report glossed in an article in CleanTechnica caught my attention for a reason that may not be obvious at first glance. Battery-electric buses now dominate new city bus registrations across the EU, and vastly ahead of schedule. That is the headline, and … [continued]

ChatGPT generated illustration showing how tariff and political volatility in the United States is creating financial headwinds for wind, solar, batteries, and EV deployment

From Courtroom to Capital Markets: Why US Tariff Instability Matters

The Supreme Court’s decision limiting presidential tariff authority should have reduced uncertainty. Instead, it introduced a new layer of it. The Court narrowed the use of one statute for imposing broad tariffs. The response from the administration was immediate. Tariffs would continue under other authorities, and tariffs already collected would … [continued]

ChatGPT generated: Comparison of useful energy cost multipliers in Germany showing hydrogen and RFNBO fuels as structural multiples of electrification for freight and heating

Germany’s Bid To Double Hydrogen Fuel Targets Ignores Operator Demand And Cost Signals

The German Bundesrat’s recent plea to Brussels to double green hydrogen-based fuel quotas is less a bid to accelerate decarbonization than a request to manufacture demand for an infrastructure program that never made economic sense and had weak demand signals from the start. The upper chamber’s proposal to increase mandated … [continued]

Chatgpt generated image symbolizing the Year of the Fire Horse as electrified infrastructure reshapes global power systems.

The Fire Horse Energy Transition & Creative Destruction

Joseph Schumpeter wrote that creative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism. He was not describing a gentle process. He was describing waves of innovation that dismantle capital stock, reprice assets, and reorganize entire industries. In the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Fire Horse we have just entered symbolizes … [continued]

ChatGPT generated comparison of a complex hydrogen bus repair bay and a simpler battery electric maintenance bay.

The Hydrogen Workshop Transit Agencies Actually Need

On March 20, 2026 in Mississauga, Ontario, CUTRIC is hosting a hydrogen fuel cell bus readiness workshop sponsored by Mississauga’s transit agency, MiWay. The framing is straightforward. As Canada moves toward a greener future, agencies are invited to prepare for the arrival of hydrogen buses on site. The assumption is … [continued]

Chatgpt generated suggestive visualization of carbon pricing impacts on shipping.

The End Game Economics of Maritime Fuels

In my recent article on America’s new maritime plan, I argued that it was competing for the wrong century by anchoring itself to legacy fuels and industrial logic that made sense when gasoline and diesel dominated global energy demand. A reader asked a question regarding the fuel cost variance for … [continued]

Chatgpt generated illustration of China’s expanding ETS sector coverage.

China’s Carbon Market Expands Into Heavy Industry As USA Regresses

China’s national carbon market has reached another expansion point, and the signal is larger than it first appears. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has extended mandatory carbon reporting beyond the original heavy sectors to include petrochemicals, chemicals, flat glass, copper smelting, papermaking, and civil aviation. That move does not … [continued]