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In 2010, when I wrote my first book: “Renewable Energy–Facts and Fantasies,” I wanted a chapter on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, and so I turned to the local expert on the subject, Honda’s Steve Ellis.  Steve was anxious to promote his “baby,” the Honda FCX Clarity, and he figured that my book was as good a place as any to make that happen.

Yet I wasn’t convinced that hydrogen had a future, due largely to the lack of fueling infrastructure.  Where battery EV owners can unplug their toasters and plug in their cars, this is anything but the case with hydrogen.

And now, not to boast, but my prediction has come true: hydrogen-fueled cars are flailing in the market.  From Bloomberg:

Despite billions of dollars of investment, fuel cell cars in the US are disappearing in the rearview mirror, overtaken by battery-electric models and stalled by hydrogen shortages and soaring fuel prices. Last year, drivers bought just 3,143 hydrogen cars in California — the only state that sells them — compared with 380,000 BEVs.

Hydrogen’s proponents aren’t throwing in the towel. Toyota and Hyundai are pushing fuel cell models, albeit at heavy discounts, and Honda just announced a hydrogen hybrid version of its best-selling CR-V. California continues to build new infrastructure. But for drivers and would-be car buyers, the practical experience of going hydrogen-electric is bad and getting worse.

My suspicion, and it’s not an original idea, is that the fossil fuel industry has been using hydrogen as a red herring for the last half century.  The oil embargo in the 1970s created an imperative for an alternative to petroleum, then Big Oil (without any sincerity whatsoever), immediately began promoting its “commitment” to the “hydrogen economy.”  Now, 50 years later, check out your social media feed and what ExxonMobil claims to be doing in this space.

It’s nauseating. In terms of honesty and decency, these people make Donald Trump look like Mahatma Gandhi.

Finally, the Death of Hydrogen?

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Renewable Energy

Trump: The United States Is “Under Invasion from Within”

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In this speech, Trump explains that the radical left is “invading” our country, and that he and his administration are going to “take them out very quickly.”

He seems to be talking about civil war.  If so, this will be much different than the Union vs. the Confederacy, where the enemies lived in different parts of the country and the soldiers wore different colored uniforms.

Here, to take an example, we have high school faculties that are a blend of both liberals and conservatives. If you’re stupid enough to believe that the liberals are invading the United States and need to be removed, you have a real challenge on your hands, not only legally, but logistically as well.

Now, I suppose he could simply have the military deploy machine guns and wipe out each one of the seven million men, women, and children in protests like “No Kings” protesters.  Or maybe just round them up and deport them. He has no regard for the Constitution and rule of law anyway, so maybe this isn’t as far-fetched as it seems.

One thing that Trump doesn’t seem to be considering, though, is that “the military” is run by generals and admirals who are sane and intelligent people, who have sworn an oath would prevent them to committing atrocities at the behest of a psychotic in the White House.

Wow.  Life in America gets more absurd with each passing day.

Trump: The United States Is “Under Invasion from Within”

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Renewable Energy

Vestas Succeeds in US Despite Challenges

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Weather Guard Lightning Tech

Vestas Succeeds in US Despite Challenges

Vestas continues to make headwinds in the US, despite the current administration’s disdain for wind energy.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on FacebookYouTubeTwitterLinkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

Vestas is making headway in America. Despite a president who has a dim view of their product. Despite the administration halting offshore wind projects across the country. Despite tariffs climbing over one hundred percent.

Vestas delivered more than sixty percent MORE to America in the third quarter of this year. Vestas delivered ONSHORE wind turbines. One point four gigawatts [GIG-uh-wahts]. Enough to power more than four hundred thousand homes.

Every third turbine they delivered worldwide went to the US – that Danish wind turbine manufacturer – has a chief executive named HENRIK ANDERSEN. VESTAS Chief Executive HENRIK ANDERSEN.Andersen said something remarkable recently:

“We are pleased with what we see.” Now you might wonder how. How does a wind company GROW when the White House opposes wind turbines? How do orders INCREASE when the administration halts offshore wind development?

How does business boom when tariffs make everything more expensive? Here’s what VESTAS figured out two decades ago.

They built blade factories in Colorado. Nacelle factories too. More than twelve hundred American companies are in their supply chain. Creating jobs. Creating trust. Creating roots too deep to pull up. And here’s the thing about electricity in America today:

The demand is so HIGH – from factories, from those hungry data centers powering artificial intelligence – that customers will buy power REGARDLESS of tariffs. As Andersen puts it: “Electricity is in such high demand that orders will actually be fulfilled.”

Some customers ARE waiting for clarity on those tariffs. VESTAS admits it would have gotten even MORE orders without them.

And yes, offshore wind orders? Zero. Not a single megawatt in the third quarter. The administration saw to that.

Despite everything – the politics, the tariffs, the offshore freeze – wind remains the most cost-effective electricity source available. ONSHORE wind. Seven to nine percent annual growth expected through twenty thirty. And VESTAS? They’re so confident they just announced a one hundred fifty million EURO share buyback program.

That’s money they’re returning to shareholders. You don’t do that unless you believe in what’s coming next. Twenty-five hundred megawatts ordered for the Americas in just one quarter. The US and Germany – driving their order book right now.

Now Andersen won’t predict WHEN all those waiting customers will place their orders. “It’s simply too difficult to predict,” he says. But he adds this: “We take the orders we can get” And there’s something else worth knowing. Those rising electricity prices everyone’s feeling? In parts of America, wholesale power costs jumped as much as two hundred sixty-seven percent in just five years.

Baltimore. Los Angeles. Minneapolis. Cities far from data centers paying more because the grid serves everyone. VESTAS is betting that when power bills climb, wind becomes MORE attractive. Not less. The cheapest electron wins.

And right now, even WITH tariffs, wind is delivering the most affordable power in America. So while Washington halts offshore projects and debates tariffs, this Danish company just keeps building ONSHORE. Keeps hiring. Keeps delivering. One point four gigawatts at a time. The administration froze offshore wind. But VESTAS found another way.

https://weatherguardwind.com/vestas-us-challenges/

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Renewable Energy

Trump “Beyond Repair”

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Former Bush Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Donald Trump: “I believe Mr. Trump is beyond repair. He is stubbornly uninformed…he is unqualified and unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.”

It sure would have been nice if statements like these, that are as obvious as the nose on your face, could have dominated the public discourse in time to have made a difference.

Also, not to pick nits, but “beyond repair” implies that there was a former state to which the subject could be restored, e.g., “He repaired the damage automobile.” This is not the case with Trump, who appears to have been a sociopath all his life.

Trump “Beyond Repair”

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