Paul Martin (Spitfire Research)

Chuffed to have been mentioned by @mliebreich.bsky.social in his brilliant conversation with @janrosenow.bsky.social - well worth the listen! www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xDH...

Hydrogen is a structurally bad battery. Bad in ways innovation can't fix. www.linkedin.com/pulse/hydrog...

I do my bit for the environment by composting most of my ideas. Here's a few examples of where I've gone wrong and had to change my mind. www.linkedin.com/pulse/where-...

According to JD Vance, the pope doesn't know theology. The pope has several related university degrees. JD Vance has none. According to Pierre Poilievre, Mark Carney is poorly educated in economics. Dr. Carney has a PhD in economics from Oxford. PP? None. Dunning-Kruger? Confirmation Bias?

CO2 + $$$ ==> 💎 + O2 🍺⬆️ AGW ⬇️ Problem solved, right? Right? Here's why the U in CCUS is a false promise. www.linkedin.com/pulse/co2-ut...

One container (TEU) of LFP battery cells can store and return about 27 000 MWh of electricity over their lifetime- as much as 270 container-sized tanks of diesel fuel. Renewable energy is about reducing GHG and toxic emissions. But it's also about energy security and resilience!

One container of solar panels shipped to Toronto, can generate enough electricity over their lifetime to replace about 42 container-sized tanks worth of diesel fuel (4200 MWh).

Batteries and solar panels and wind turbines, much less the wind and sun to power them, don't need to be constantly shipped through the Strait of Hormuz Just sayin'

Here's what a Cheetolini voodoo doll looks like when exposed to flame. Made of fat, starch and hot air, and hence a considerable flame. As much as I avoid practices based on poor or absent evidence, in this case it was worth a try!

Trolls and bots Canadian and otherwise, have been distorting the message of the brilliant speech @mark-carney.bsky.social gave at Davos. So here's the speech's main points, explained by AI so a 5 yr old can get the gist: spitfireresearch.com/mark-carneys...

I was interviewed by Krissy Holmes on CBC Newfoundland On the Go last week in relation to several H2 to ammonia to rich, dumb Germans projects that have recently been cancelled. My commentary starts at around 12:30 into the piece www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Here's why I think biofuels are the obvious solution for shipping and aviation- not fuels made from their combustion products using electricity, because that's thermodynamic idiocy. But it won't be cheap...https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/short-screed-biofuels-paul-martin-y7ohc/

Why can't batteries store more than 4 hrs worth of electricity? Well, they can- but how frequently you cycle them, determines how cheap each kWh returned from storage will be. www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-ca...

Time to reconsider blue hydrogen? Blue Hydrogen Reconsidered? www.linkedin.com/pulse/blue-h...

There, I fixed it for you, nuclear bros. Seems you failed basic data analysis and statistics, or at least ignored it when it didn't make a happy story for your industry. Nukers aren't getting cheaper in China- they're just way cheaper to build there than anywhere else. Like everything.

This one really touched a nerve. So many people want to believe...#hopium addiction is widespread. www.linkedin.com/pulse/ocean-...

I saw this and thought it was wryly amusing. Didn't see it on X- I'm done with that platform permanently.

The ER-6 battery pack has been replaced. Elon-free silent roadster motoring is back on the menu- with twice the range! The old pack is going into a solar installation where it will likely last another decade. www.linkedin.com/pulse/er-6-b...

As Canadians do their best to buy Canadian, it's worth pointing out how much the CBC has been a constant presence throughout our entire lives. To me, Canada wouldn’t be Canada without the CBC. And I hope it never is. Don’t forget to vote tomorrow ❤ #vote #canadastrong @savethecbc.bsky.social

Somebody told @dannymichelmusic.bsky.social that musicians should stay in their lane and not make political comments. So he did the right thing - he wrote a protest song. "But we ain't for sale, like one of your cars And the northern star- that one's ours!"

Batteries arrived for the ER-6 replacement pack. The 11 yr old original cells will be going into a solar project to serve a low C rate retirement of likely another 10 years or so. Now the long process of capacity measurements before they go in the car!

Our old bumpersticker for our Model Y is starting to peel already, but the new one is sticking fast- and I think it makes the point even clearer. Elon can kiss my shiny metal ass!

Tesla is rattling around $234, but if it had twice the P/E of Toyota it would be $30. Fan-boys will buy it all the way down. It's a meme stock, not an investment, and hasn't been one for years. Stop funding the narcissist CEO - if you own it, ditch it, like you did your X account.

And just like that, the cynical stock price reward given by "investors" to Elon after he bought Orange Julius Caesar the presidency, has been wiped out. 15% drop in a day- and lots more room to fall. Brings to mind my 2nd favourite German word: schadenfreude. (fave is still "gift" (poison))

Congratulations to Mark Carney, Canada's next prime minister. Tough job ahead- he has to contend not only with Orange Julius Caesar, but Canada's own "Trump lite" Pierre Poilievre. Hopefully Canadians will vote for competence over bluster.

US booze has been pulled from Ontario and Quebec shelves. US products are heavily discounted but not selling in our grocery stores. Canadians have two modes: "We're sorry", and "You're about to be sorry". Elbows up- this is going to get ugly until the Orange Turd is flushed from the Oval Toilet

Speaks for itself- when it can get a word in edgewise.

What do you think of my new trash artwork? Any guesses as to what it is?

Watch out! Green hydrogen as a fuel is a zombie meme idea. It can never be alive- thermodynamics and H2's properties ensure that- but it also will never die. It is too powerful at a simpleminded level, and as a predatory delay strategy. spitfireresearch.com/green-hydrog...

I have no idea how I missed this but this @carbonmarketwatch.bsky.social report on Oxy is fantastic carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/u...

This piece from the Onion is darkly funny, until you realize it was published in November 2023- then its prescience is a little spooky...https://theonion.com/nazi-hopes-elon-musk-antisemitism-apology-as-disingenuo-1851062416/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIUYu1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHRmw

There’s a gulf between installed electrolyser capacity in Europe and what’s needed to meet the 10m t green hydrogen production ambition set out in RePowerEU Strategy. Great slide @nathanielbullard.com !

We all know fossil fuel companies are beyond shameless, but it takes a special kind of sociopathy to announce $9.1 billion in profits, and a 50% cut to renewable energy investments ON THE SAME DAY. Great work as always, #Equinor 🤮

What is "green steel"? It's a misnomer. It's really "green iron"- a not so subtle difference. Steelmaking in the US is already 70% done in electric arc furnaces. www.linkedin.com/posts/paul-m...

It never had a thing to do with Canadian border security.

I'm not an artist, but I modified this popular cartoon to make it more accurate. It would better if the Great Orange Turd were holding the MAGA supporter to ward off the backsplash- hopefully someone can do a nicer job of it and post it here!

We didn't start this trade war, but we sure as hell won't just roll over and take it, either. Great speech from Trudeau- well worth listening to.

I'm going to try to never dirty my mouth, or my keyboard, with his real name again. My current favorite nickname for the orange felon is the Manchurian Cantaloupe. What's yours?

My experience with generative AI text search results is exactly this: it spits out plausible sounding but false answers. Frequently with obvious internal contradictions- but often more subtly and dangerously. So you can only ask it what you know already- rending it useless.

Proof, despite recent events, that I haven't lost my marbles. I know exactly where they are- they're in a coffee can, mixed in with my ball bearings. And I also know where my towel is.

Finally - if you want a breather - please go watch this video of @frediotto.bsky.social at @climatescibreak.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BWY...

Yeah, Elon was "throwing his heart" to the crowd. And the way he chose to do it- twice- makes it quite clear what's actually IN that cold, dead little Grinch heart of his. Don't kid yourself. Don't post pics of other people with arms raised. Watch the video- and note the absence of an apology.

This Cybertruck did not crash. It made a heartfelt and perhaps ill-advised gesture that, in the moment, might have been misinterpreted as a crash, but we should not rush to judgement.

I'm told daily that "efficiency doesn't matter". Which is true, sort of. Low efficiency approaches can work, if their capital cost is low. Higher efficiency pays for more capital. The problem with wind=>H2=>ammonia=>electricity is low efficiency AND high capex, which means high cost per kWh.