2. A Maple DARPA Remade Fuel Cells
Ballard’s shift to hydrogen fuel cells was the result of a 1983 contract from Canada’s Department of National Defense to explore the technology
1b: The "Monkey Jesus" of Catalyst Layers
Unfortunately, instead of the glass-smooth surface I’d hoped for, my handiwork was more of a lunar landscape...
1a: The Iconic Mk4
The Mark 4 (“Mk4”) was an early Ballard fuel cell design, and the one the Direct Methanol Fuel Cell group used at the time.
Fuel Cells: A Love Story 😊
The security guard asked why I was loitering by the front door in the pre-twilight darkness. Thus began my internship at Ballard Power Systems.
Toyota: 0 to 60 (% hybrids) in 31 years
It took from 1997 to 2009 – from Titanic to Avatar – for Toyota to break even, overall, on gasoline hybrids.
Musk is to ZEV Credits What Fukushima was to Nuclear
ZEV mandates helped accelerate electric transportation, but the associated credits did so with the worst of negative externalities.
Canadian autos: Big Three to Japan Two … and a Chinese One?
Toyota and Honda first set up in Canada in the 1980s, so in the span of 40 years Japanese carmakers went from an existential threat to the Canadian auto industry, to our biggest producers ... “If you can’t beat ’em, make ‘em join you”.
Jane Goodall-ing with Elon Musk’s early, conservative critics, Part II: Eco-types
Interviewees' archetype of an environmentalist was “high status, liberal, female, and white”. Elizabeth May (Canadian Green Party leader) fits this perfectly.
Jane Goodall-ing with Elon Musk’s early, conservative critics (Part I: TSLAQ)
Several years ago, when Tesla’s fans and marketing machine could still paper over the red flag parade of Elon Musk’s character and business practices, I became part of a community of his critics.
Implausible Thanks to a PhD "Climate Crank"
I’d closed my office door by this point, which was a good thing, because I fairly shrieked, “are you telling me George W. Bush got into Harvard Business School on [obscene gerund] merit??”
The Sierra Club (of 1972) vs the Black Panthers
“We protected the world from nuclear power” rings differently than “we protected the world from nuclear power, and in retrospect it cost the health of a hundred communities poorer than ours”.
US Gun Violence; Canada’s; BC’s Fugitive Methane Emissions and u.s.
There's a big difference between gun violence rates in the United States and Canada -- and in the fugitive methane emissions rate in the US and British Columbia, too.