Author: Michael Barnard

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic image visualizes the metaphor of Sisyphus with themes related to Ballard Power and hydrogen.

Ballard Averaging $55 Million Annual Losses While Pushing Hydrogen Rock Uphill With Grants

There are three long running supporting cast members in stagings of the sad farce that is trials of hydrogen for fleets, FuelCell Energy, Plug Power and Ballard Power Systems. All of their market capitalizations peaked roughly 99% above their current stock valuations in 2000. They’ve all participated in innumerable hydrogen … [continued]

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic image of a rusting hydrogen pipeline that abruptly ends in mid-air, set against a vast, open landscape.

New Hydrogen Pipeline Vs HVDC Study Less Wrong, More Clearly Shows Hydrogen Uneconomic

For the past few years there’s been a sub-genre of studies trying to pretend that making hydrogen in one place and using pipelines to move it to other places is better than just moving the electrons using HVDC transmission. It’s the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies’ turn to get it … [continued]

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic image depicting a billionaire inside a lavish, transparent bubble, floating above a city landscape

Pity The Poor Climate-Aware Billionaire Oligarchs

As we celebrate the passing of another year with the rituals of our religions, our families and our cultures, spare a thought for a poor benighted billionaires who are trying and failing miserably to address climate change. They have a place to stand, a lever long enough, yet cannot move … [continued]

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic image depicting a futuristic hydrogen-powered taxi carrying a group of Icelandic elves on a barren road, with a volcano in the background.

More Hydrogen Fleets That Reached The End Of The Tragicomedy Including Iceland

One thing that the hydrogen for energy chorus is good at is celebrating and amplifying acts 2 and 3 of the Odyssey of the Hydrogen Fleet, when governments unlock millions or tens of millions for hydrogen trials and cash-starved fleet owners throw it at a handful of hydrogen buses, trucks … [continued]

Midjourney generated image of a passenger jet lying on the ground

ICCT’s Hydrogen For Aviation Perspective Is Deeply Wrong As Well

The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) is a US-headquartered think tank with offices globally. It’s been around since 2001. It was founded with noble ideals and funding from progressive and climate-focused foundations including the Hewlett and Packard family foundations and the Energy Foundation. Its mission and vision is to … [continued]

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic image of a hydrogen-powered container ship, uniquely lifted by large balloons with dollar symbols

ICCT Thinks Green Hydrogen For Shipping Will Have More Energy Than Electricity Required To Make…

A month ago the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) released a Europe-focused report on the total cost of ownership of various decarbonization pathways for freight trucking. It was deeply flawed, with unrealistically low costs for the hydrogen pathway as they put multiple thumbs on the scale. Perhaps their analyses … [continued]

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated image of a tiny hydrogen train broken down on Bavarian tracks with an engineer trying to figure out what's wrong as a chorus sings discordantly.

Bavaria Enters Act 3 of Tragicomic Odyssey Of The Hydrogen Fleet

The hydrogen chorus is again singing, discordantly and joyfully, as Bavaria continues along the tragicomic journey which inevitably leads to abandoning hydrogen after wasting much governmental money and delaying electrification. A tiny, two-car Siemens light-rail passenger train has completed trials this week and sometime in 2024 will go into service, … [continued]

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic image that metaphorically represents a flawed hydrogen strategy, with a quicksand foundation and stakeholders pushing in conflicting directions.

Ontario’s Hydrogen Approach Will Be A B-School Case Study In Failure

Not to be left behind as the world is spun in circles by hydrogen hype, Ontario published a hydrogen strategy in 2022. Recently it announced the first approved significant project, one that involves truckloads of hydrogen leaving Niagara Falls to be burned in a gas generator over 100 kilometers away. … [continued]

ChatGPT & DALL-E generated panoramic illustration that visualizes the concept of maximizing pipeline value by incorporating High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission

Will Pipelines Be Repurposed For HVDC Transmission?

This question is asked regularly of me these days. After all, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) is the new pipeline, doesn’t care if it’s run underwater, underground or through a steel pipe, and the millions of kilometers of pipelines in the world are going to be decommissioned at an accelerating rate … [continued]

Midjourney generated image of wind farm stretching to the horizon, bird's eye view

What Do COP28 Double Down, Triple Up & Nuclear Commitments Mean?

COP28 has some good news stories to go with the bad. Prominent among the good news was the Double Down, Triple Up pledge pushed by the Global Renewable Alliance and signed onto by almost 120 countries. A somewhat similar pledge related to nuclear is receiving a lot of media coverage … [continued]