Michael Liebreich is an outspoken critic of hydrogen for transportation & energy solutions.  Michael purports to be an objective resource on energy information but he is a ground floor investor in ChargePoint which presents a conflict of interest to his objectivity. ChargePoint bills itself as the world’s leading EV charging network and says they focus on their “commitment to EV charging—and only EV charging”.^[1]  Michael says we must choose only one solution for entire market segments like energy & transportation; and he says hydrogen cannot compete economically in those segments.  Michael has fabricated a narrative he calls the Hydrogen Ladder to support his investments and sow doubt about hydrogen.  Michael specifically and aggressively tries to discourage sovereign investments directed toward hydrogen through Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms.  Michael uses his bully pulpit to try to kill off hydrogen ambitions he perceives as threats to his personal investments with information that misleads the public.

RMP has largely ignored Michael Liebreich over the past few years as one more blustery voice among many that would use their platform to smear hydrogen’s economic potential. I decided to post this article on RMP to debunk Michael’s Hydrogen Ladder after he was invited to give the keynote speech at the October 2022 World Hydrogen Congress in Rotterdam.  It is important to speak up and speak out against information that misleads the public and does not serve the best interest of our economy and our environment.  Just like RMP has debunked false narratives spun to smear hydrogen from Dr. Ulf Bossel & Mark Jacobson, RMP will now debunk Michael Liebreich’s Hydrogen Ladder.

Introduction

RMP follows the energy sector of our economy closely and has a history as an environmental watchdog organization.  The org was formed when HVHF oil companies came to Michigan in 2008 to produce small amounts of natural gas & oil using record amounts of our fresh water resources.  RMP seeks to expose human avarice that threatens our fresh water public natural resources for private profits when headlines don’t jive with the underlying data.  RMP’s core mission is to protect our fresh water natural resources.  RMP has been successful exposing threats to our environment because of our focus on how energy operations work in the real world and how those operations generate profits & losses using our natural resources.  RMP uses a simple formula at the heart of our research: follow the money.

RMP has gathered a wealth of energy infrastructure data in a relational database over the past 14 years that allows insight into how legislators and decision makers use our natural resources. RMP uses this relational database of energy infrastructure to debunk or corroborate claims made in the news or on social media by people like Michael Liebreich.  Because RMP has one of the most (if not the most) comprehensive public & free to use databases of hydrogen infrastructure in North America, RMP is particularly well suited to debunk false claims about hydrogen fuel cells & hydrogen infrastructure.  In this post, RMP will apply our Continue reading “Michael Liebreich’s Hydrogen Ladder Debunked”

The false narrative about hydrogen for FCEVs is officially dead.  Air Liquide opened their North Las Vegas renewable hydrogen liquefaction plant this month to provide green hydrogen to California FCEV drivers.  Air Liquide’s $250 million investment is purpose built to supply green hydrogen to the California FCEV market for both cars & big class 8 trucks.  The plant will Continue reading “Hydrogen for FCEVs Nearly 100% Green While BEVs Use >80% Non-Renewable Energy”

This quarterly report chronicles key H2 infrastructure developments & stories from the past three months and is published on the last day of the quarter.  Each key news item  will be highlighted with a synopsis of the key event, a link to the story, and a link to its location on RMP’s Google map of hydrogen infrastructure across the USA & Canada if applicable.   Simply click the map link to go directly to a zoomed in map marker on RMP’s map of H2 infrastructure.  The marker on the map will be used as a Continue reading “USA & CANADA QUARTERLY H2 INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE 2022-Q1”

Battery technology has come a long way and has helped us in many ways.  Hydrogen technology has also come a long way and shows promise to reduce carbon intensity in energy sectors that batteries cannot reach.   Green hydrogen can reduce CO2 emissions in the manufacture of ammonia, steel, and concrete as well as many other products.  Hydrogen acceptance and enthusiasm could be much further along than it is today, but it has been held back by Continue reading “Top Four Hydrogen Myths”

This quarterly report chronicles key H2 infrastructure developments & stories from the past three months and is published on the last day of the quarter.  Each key news item  will be highlighted with a synopsis of the key event, a link to the story, and a link to its location on RMP’s Google map of hydrogen infrastructure across the USA & Canada if applicable.   Simply click the map link to go directly to a zoomed in map marker on RMP’s map of H2 infrastructure.  The marker on the map will be used as a virtual data repository for that specific location (like a Wiki page for that location).  If you want to learn more about what’s going on at that location, you can go to its homepage to get all information available for that location. Continue reading “USA & CANADA QUARTERLY H2 INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE 2021-Q4”

Welcome new readers of RMP’s quarterly H2 infrastructure report.  Each quarter we look back on the major stories related to hydrogen infrastructure advancements and we compare the current AFDC database to the AFDC database in the prior quarter to see what has changed.  The AFDC database is updated by the US Dept of Energy & can be found by clicking here.  RMP also keeps a supplemental data table of hydrogen production, liquefaction, rail and truck refueling stations.  RMP adds our additional locations to the DOE’s database of Class 1 refueling locations to make a Continue reading “USA & CANADA QUARTERLY H2 INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE 2021-Q3”

Air Products, a world leader in the supply and transport of hydrogen, and Cummins Inc., a global power and hydrogen technologies leader, jointly announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work together to accelerate the Continue reading “Air Products and Cummins to Accelerate Development and Deployment of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trucks”

Welcome new readers of RMP’s quarterly H2 infrastructure report.  Each quarter we look back on the major stories related to hydrogen infrastructure advancements and we compare the current AFDC database to the AFDC database in the prior quarter to see what has changed.  The AFDC database is updated by the US Dept of Energy & can be found by clicking here.  RMP uses the US Department of Energy database as our primary data source for our Continue reading “USA & CANADA QUARTERLY H2 INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE 2021-Q2”

LAKE MARY, Fla. (May 12, 2021) – Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc., and Texas Brine Company, LLC have signed an agreement to develop large-scale long-duration hydrogen storage solutions to support decarbonization efforts across the eastern United States. Long-duration hydrogen storage is a Continue reading “Mitsubishi Power Americas & Texas Brine Company Agree To Develop Long Duration Hydrogen Storage”