Author: Michael Barnard

ChatGPT generated panoramic image of an artistic infographic showing shifting global chip alliances, highlighting trade flows between the U.S., EU, and China

Could American Tariffs Hand China A Semiconductor Advantage?

Imagine a future scenario unfolding through 2025, where global semiconductor alliances—long carefully coordinated by the United States—begin to fracture dramatically. This speculative future doesn’t hinge on new technological breakthroughs or sudden security crises, but instead arises from political and economic miscalculations by an increasingly isolated and confrontational United States. The … [continued]

ChatGPT generated overhead image showing massive coal ash ponds, vividly contrasting the minimal scale of solar panel waste

Solar Panel Waste is Tiny—Coal & Gas Emit Hundreds Of Times Mass Per MWh

Every few months, another wave of media reports predictably warns about the supposed “looming crisis” of solar panel waste. Given the urgency of climate action, it’s frustrating to see the conversation repeatedly derailed by these exaggerated concerns. I’ve previously examined this narrative around wind energy, demonstrating clearly in my CleanTechnica … [continued]

ChatGPT generated panoramic image of a map of global mineral supply chains with red and blue trade routes emanating from China

The Great Realignment: What Global Investors Must Know About China in 2025

The world is in the middle of a structural reset—one where global capital can no longer pretend geopolitics, climate, and industrial policy are background noise. From liquefied gas to lithium, from advanced chips to artificial intelligence, the foundations of the global economy are now strategic terrain. It’s in this moment—when … [continued]

ChatGPT generated panoramic Image of A desolate Gulf Coast LNG terminal under cloudy skies, massive loading arms idle, with Chinese flag colors fading into mist offshore

China Walks Away: U.S. LNG Expansion Plans Unravel as Trade War Escalates

China has just suspended all LNG imports from the United States. No warning, no phasedown, just an apparent state directive that Chinese buyers, including the national oil companies, were no longer to sign, lift, or receive U.S. liquefied natural gas. The decision comes in the wake of a rapidly escalating … [continued]

ChatGPT generated panoramic image of a COMAC C919 at a modern Chinese airport terminal, while several grounded Boeing 737 MAX jets sit behind a fence, unused

The End of the Runway for Boeing in China

A COMAC C919 rolls to the end of the runway at Shanghai Pudong, a clean-lined aircraft shimmering in the haze as ground crews finish their checks. In the background, a row of pristine Boeing 737 MAX aircraft sit unused, tails high, their future uncertain. The scene is an imagined one, … [continued]

ChatGPT generated landscape image of a container ship leaving a Chinese port, filled with electrical equipment crates labeled “Transformers”

Europe Should Buy Chinese Transformers Now Available Due To Trump’s Trade War

The global clean energy transition has been throttled by an unlikely villain: the humble transformer. This once-overlooked piece of grid infrastructure has become one of the most critical bottlenecks in the race to electrify everything. As wind and solar projects stack up, as data centers expand to meet AI-driven demand, … [continued]

ChatGPT generated panoramic image of a cross-sectional diagram-style panorama of a SAF value chain: from waste feedstock, through pre-treatment and refining, to fueling a commercial jet

Fuel For The Edges: Five Biofuel Companies Built To Last In The Energy Transition

I’ve been rebalancing my portfolio lately. It’s something I do every couple of years—trim what’s run ahead, add where conviction has deepened, and adjust based on what I now believe to be real, durable value. I’m not a trader. I buy and hold for years, sometimes decades, and while my … [continued]

ChatGPT generated panoramic cross-section of a Canadian energy corridor, showing crude oil pipelines below and overhead HVDC transmission lines running in parallel

TMX’s C$3B/Year Oil & Gas Subsidy Lesson: Design Energy Corridor For Electrons Not Oil

Canada is once again flirting with the idea of an east-west energy corridor. The vision sounds big and bold: a designated path across the country to carry everything from crude oil to natural gas, hydrogen to electricity. In this rapid, Trump-inflected election cycle, political leaders are lining up behind the … [continued]

ChatGPT generated panoramic image of a European hydrogen bus parked in front of a large, under-construction refueling station with red safety barriers

Hydrogen vs. Battery Buses: A European Transit Reality Check

Two more hydrogen bus trial failures crossed my screen this morning, so I thought I’d share. Both are in Europe, but while one is in the capital of the EU, the other is across the Channel in the heart of the United Kingdom’s oil and gas industry. While I’m at … [continued]

ChatGPT generated panoramic image of a port skyline with a large containership plugged into a grid connection, battery icon glowing, and a stack labeled “Synthetic Fuels Deferred”

Net-Zero by 2050: The IMO’s Victory—and the Case for Less Fuel, Not More

In April 2025, the International Maritime Organization did something rare for a UN body: it passed a binding climate policy. Not advisory, not aspirational, but actual mandatory rules. The agreement commits international shipping to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions “by or around 2050,” and despite the ambiguity of that phrasing, the … [continued]