Q: “Gianni, why are you so suspicious about this and other announcements about how significant breakthroughs are imminent on the 70-years long quest for nuclear fusion? Isn’t fusion A.Good.Thing. ?” An imaginary question an imaginary journalist could ask A: “Well fusion WOULD certainly be a good thing for humanity, and I am convinced that we’ll … More The relationship between nuclear fusion and hydrogen

ITA My LinkedIn stream pops up an infographic developed by the California Fuel Cell Partnership, where various types of hydrogen filling stations are compared, stating data I had been looking for for some time. Here it is: The infographic distinguishes between two cases: hydrogen is produced locally (the true-true green hydrogen) or elsewhere and then … More The cost of hydrogen

Whaaaat? Am I gone crazy? Did I sell out to Big Oil ? None of the above, but realism IMHO always trumps ideology I have been using the title above for quite some time in answering questions people ask me because I hate hype, even when it supports my point of view, and I feel … More Why your next car should NOT be electric

Exxon loses two (maybe three) board seats to activist hedge fund (May 27th) Shell ordered to deepen carbon cuts (May 26th) Investors chide Toyota’s Toyoda for questioning combustion car ban (May 10th) See the pattern? The force to be reckoned with in the current phase of the Climate battle is not increased regulation, or legislative … More Scrooge’s children

ITA One of the main aces up the sleeve of the proponents of “Carbon Capture” (i.e. the capturing and storage of CO2 at the point of production) is the fact that it represents a valuable commodity. The underlying thesis is that we will be able to exorcise the ghost of carbon dioxide only if we … More CCS and the 45Q tax credit

ITA Imagine you have 100 kWh of fully renewable electric energy. What is the best way to use it to displace yourself? Electrolyse water to produce hydrogen. With this amount of energy you can generate about 1,81 kg of hydrogen which, in a fuel cell car will allow you to drive about 178 km Use … More Wasteful hydrogen

ITA Three interesting articles caught my attention this month: Big Oil’s Net-Zero Plans Show the Hard Limits of Carbon Offsets (Bloomberg, march 1, 2021) Bank of Italy warns us of risks associated to greenwashing [ITA only] (Banca d’Italia paper n° 608 – Banche centrali, rischi climatici e finanza sostenibile, march 2021) Russia Wants to Use … More Myths and reality of #Carbon_offsets

ITA Yesterday I published an article on the efficiency disadvantage of the H2 cycle. A couple friends pointed out two issues with the schematic represented in the chart: many electrolyzers are NOT built right next to a photovoltaic or wind farm, so transport losses should accrue; the final stage of a FCEV car has a … More Hydrogen’s disadvantage (revised)

ITA [Edit 2/3/2021: there is an updated version of this post here] No point in getting emotional: the arguments in favour of hydrogen in cars are weak to say the least, but they resonate with people carrying enormous interests and so it’s not very likely we will see it wane from our radar screens. Paul … More Hydrogen’s disadvantage

ITA NOTE [Oct. 12th, 2021]: responding to a request, I have committed to try to keep this post up-to-date, amending the charts roughly quarterly, which is the frequency of update in the primary data sources. It’s easy to see Electric Mobility fans indulge in the guilty pleasure of contemplating the disarray in which the fossil … More A crisis in the making