The Canadian hydrogen-highway industry is at a crossroads. Compared with the rest in the world Canada is a fading champion in the hydrogen arena. Though the famous Ballard Power started here in Canada, the public funding that kept the venture alive and in the headlines has all but dried up. But there’s still hope for a […]

Mention the phrase “hydrogen economy” these days, and most people will laugh at you. That’s because the phrase reminds most people of the endlessly unfulfilled promises of fuel cell–powered cars and hydrogen refueling stations. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, with his famous hydrogen powered Hummers, has dropped talk of the Hydrogen Highway in favour of something a bit more practical: […]

In their decades-long efforts to develop effective and affordable climate change policy, most western governments have put a lot of money and effort in two areas: (1) hydrogen, and (2) carbon capture and sequestration. They are on the right track, but they’re going about it in a roundabout way. That could set back progress by decades

Gasoline, diesel, and heating oil are all hydrocarbon fuels. Almost every drop of them available on the planet today comes from petroleum. But that isn’t written in stone. Each of these fuels is, at bottom, a different combination of hydrogen and carbon. You can make all of these fuels without using any petroleum. You just […]

I have never been impressed with claims that hydrogen will solve the problem of motor vehicle emissions. The “hydrogen economy” has been one massive oversell. It would take a major scientific breakthrough, I told one client, to make hydrogen viable as a transportation fuel. Well, it looks like that breakthrough may have occurred

What’s the best way to clear the air in Toronto? Take some of the thousands of cars off the highways that lead into and out of the city. Motor vehicles, as I demonstrated last year, are by far the biggest source of Toronto smog and greenhouse gases

It’s always encouraging when a political leader mentions the right technology during a major speech. Four months ago George Bush, the mainstream environment movement’s arch-nemesis, touted plug-in hybrids during his state of the union speech. A few days ago, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, in announcing a $650 million green fund, said “GM is making their […]

Congratulations to Toronto mayor David Miller for his smart decision to test the viability of plug-in hybrid cars. Exhaust from motor vehicles is Toronto’s, and just about every other city’s, primary source of air pollution and smog.
As I have argued in another article in this blog, plug-in hybrids are the most promising technological route to […]

Of all the ways to deal with the pall of smog that hangs over Toronto in the summertime, expanding the city’s transit system is one of the smartest. Motor vehicles are the primary source of all that smog. The federal, provincial, and city governments should be congratulated for recognizing this, and for collaborating on extending […]

Last week I talked about the proposed ban on incandescent lights that is sweeping across the country. I said that the energy savings from replacing incandescent bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescents are negligible. Let me quantify that statement.
I have 16 100-watt incandescent lights. If I replaced them today with 29-watt compact fluorescents (the package […]