Worth knowing

This section contains a collection of short essays that examine the foundations of current issues in science and technology that impact our daily lives.

  • The nonsensical rise in sales of hybrid vehicles

    Recent car sales statistics show that hybrid vehicle sales are growing faster than fully electric vehicle sales. This trend is bad news for the effort to limit global warming. Why? As I explain in this article, the reason is simple. A hybrid vehicle is two vehicles in one. It has an internal combustion engine with…

  • Is hydrogen any good for storing renewable energy?

    In my earlier essay “The Wicked Battle Over Hydrogen”, I highlighted the fact that hydrogen is not a source of energy but rather a substance for storing energy. In this essay, I will describe how to use hydrogen for energy storage and what it takes to do so. The energy in fossil fuels is solar…

  • The Foolishness of Electric Car Subsidies.

    There are many features to like about battery powered electric cars. They are fun to drive, and because electric cars waste less energy than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars of equal weight, they are cheaper to run. They are simpler to build and therefore need less maintenance, last longer and should become cheaper than ICE…

  • The wicked battle over hydrogen

    Fossil fuel companies hope that the substitution of hydrogen for fossil fuels might offer them a path for the survival of their business in a zero carbon economy. Accordingly, they are lobbying governments for subsidies for developing and commercialising hydrogen fuel technology. In doing so they ignore, wittingly or unwittingly, the fact that hydrogen cannot…