Our cruise from Manhattan to Toronto continues on the Viking Octantis. We are on the St. Laurence Seaway.- Seaway, because there are locks on the western portion of the St. Lawrence River.
- River flows from the Great Lakes in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario into the North Atlantic Ocean, and is #2 to the Mississippi River in North America.
- Remember my saying that a drop of water takes about three months to travel the entire length of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico? Similarly, this hypothetical drop takes 6 to 8 years to pass through Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Or, from the furthest Lake Superior extreme, more than 200 years.
- Among the highlights include:
- Is fresh until around the city of Quebec, and eventually is ocean salty near Tadoussac.
- Portions of the seaway have peak tides up to 20 feet twice daily. You would thus think that tidal plants would be prominent, for studies estimate a potential of 1.5 gigawatts, or 1555 megawatts.
- There was a 100 kW hydrokinetic river current experiment from 2010 to 2013.
- A 2008 proposal for an underwater windmill system near Cornwall, Ontario (right).
- Worldwide, wice daily tides can reach 54 feet.
- There are several tidal plants in the world. The three largest are
- Sihwa Lake, South Korea, where tides can reach 30 feet, has a 254 MW capacity.
- La Rance in France, with up to 44 foot tides, where a 240 MW facility was built in 1966. Still operational.
- MeyGen Tidal Stream Plant in Scotland, now at 4 MW, but with a future potential of 400 MW.
- Hawaii has a tidal range of 3 feet, and there is no hope for this form of renewable energy here.
- Endangered Lawrence Estuary Beluga Whales of Saguenay, where our ship is located today.
- I asked Google AI, what percent of the world public is familiar with the city of Saguenay, Canada. The answer was significantly less than 1%. I never before even heard of it. So today, I will tour this city of 150,000 or so and educate you on what I saw tomorrow..
I've had a long history of activity in this field. But first, some fundamentals.
- All stars utilize this molecule to generate energy. Surely, this must be a hint that hydrogen should also be considered by Humanity for this purpose,
- Further, when hydrogen is combusted in the atmosphere of Planet Earth, the end products are water and energy. How nice is that?
- Thus, you can burn hydrogen to obtain energy, use this gas in a fuel cell to produce electricity or utilize isotopes, Deuterium and Tritium, to create fusion, the future of electrical production.
- All stars actually have a simpler process: fuse two hydrogen atoms to produce helium and energy. Here are the required conditions,
- 250 to 340 billion atmospheres.
- 15 million degrees Celsius.
- Our problem is that we can't reach those high pressures found in the core of stars. So we instead do what we can about pressure, but increase the temperature threshold.
- Our best option is to fuse isotopes of Hydrogen, Deuterium and Tritium. Two pathways: magnetic confinement and inertial confinement, where fusion can be attained at a temperature of 100 million Kelvin. At these numbers, celsius and kelvin are essentially identical.
- Man-made fusion reactors can possibly reach 150 million K (this is 10 times hotter than stars), this overcoming the electrostatic Coulomb barrier, allowing for fusion of D and T.
- I thus half a century ago, after completing my PhD by building a tunable laser before one could be purchased, went on to the Livermore National Laboratory to work on laser fusion, my choice as the pathway to commercial fusion.
- The other is magnetic confinement, being developed by ITER in southern France. Also known as the Tokomak process.
- Livermore attained net positive ignition in 2022.
- ITER is not expected to succeed in ignition until 2039.
- The initial ITER budget requested to achieve ignition was $6 billion. Latest estimates jump this price to as much as $65 billion,
- Livermore spent $3.5 billion to reach ignition.
- ITER is funded and operated by seven major countries.
- Livermore more recently began to gain parternerships with several European countries, and recently convened an inaugural meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency and high-level policy makers from 35 countries to form an international alliance.
- The International Space Station (ISS) is a global space effort of 15 countries at a cost $150 billion, far exceeding what will be spent on gaining fusion.
- NASA said the ISS will end operational life by 2031, and crash into the South Pacific Ocean.
- Already called Point Nemo, this ocean spot is 1670 miles from land,.
- While some say the ISS never succeeded in commercializing anything in space, the message being sent is that NASA has successfully provided the transition into space, and wants to assist the construction of COMMERCIAL outposts funded by the private sector.
- Voyager Technologies says it can build a new one for less than $3 billion. They are about to list an initial public offering. I would be very careful about this investment.
- I once worked for NASA and can understand the romance of outer space. However, you would think Humanity would focus on getting it right on Planet Earth rather than dream about space. So, as you will see, while much billionaire spending is about space, the conclusion of this posting does indicate that they are finally seeing the light.
Here is what Google AI reports about my interest in hydrogen:
Dr. Patrick Takahashi, former director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, is a proponent of a sustainable energy future, frequently advocating for a "Blue Revolution" that uses ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and clean hydrogen. As a HuffPost contributor, he authored series on utilizing clean hydrogen and marine energy resources.
Key Contributions and Concepts
- Blue Revolution: Takahashi promotes using ocean resources, specifically OTEC and marine biomass (seaweed), to produce hydrogen and biofuels to combat energy shortages and climate change.
- Hydrogen Advocacy: He has argued for transitioning to a clean hydrogen economy, calling for research into "free" hydrogen and its application in sustainable aviation.
- Legislative Impact: He helped draft the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act, which set the stage for major hydrogen research in the United States.
- HuffPost Contributions: Takahashi published several pieces on the Huffington Post, including "What About Free Hydrogen? (Part 1)" and "The Blue Revolution Is the Optimal Solution for Japan".
- Background: He served as the Director Emeritus of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute and has a strong background in renewable energy and engineering.
One series of HuffPos had to do with making hydrogen free. A bit irrational but worth your read.
The future of hydrogen shows higher shorter term potential than fusion, but, while the transition of the hydrogen economy has always been promising, it has unfortunately been affected by short periods of hype, inflating the potential.
- Here is an International Energy Agency speculation earlier this year.
To be sure, setting ambitious goals has proved useful in attracting corporate activity. But there are barriers for new products entering the market, such as high costs for first movers and a lack of adequate regulation and infrastructure. The adoption of nascent technologies can therefore a be lengthy and uneven process, combining rapid breakthroughs with periods of sluggish development. Other sectors that are now viewed as success stories have also gone through these phases. For example, it was 25 years after the first solar panels arrived on the market that solar PV reached a 1% share of a country’s electricity supply for the first time.
Recent headlines on hydrogen have emphasized project delays, cancellations and downward revisions of targets for low-emissions hydrogen adoption. This has fostered a gloomier outlook among government and industry, feeding fears that the sector has stalled and concerns that hydrogen has simply gone through another “hype” cycle, as was the case in the 1970s, 1990s and early 2000s. However, a closer look at the data shows that rather than stalling or faltering, the sector is still progressing and reaching important milestones, even though they do not match the high expectations from the early 2020s.
- Someday, both will occur, but not in my lifetime, and maybe the reality is 50 years from now.
- Still, breakthroughs could occur, and a few companies are pressing forward.
- For example, Viking expects delivery of the world's first hydrogen-powered cruise ship in November.
- The Viking Libra, with a second to come.
- Each will have 499 staterooms for 998 guests.
- To be powered by liquid hydrogen and fuel cells.
- Hydrogen-powered vehicles have been around since 2014. The current top 10;
- #1 Toyota Mirai.
- First released in 2014.
- Top speed of 111 MPH.
- Range of 312 miles.
- Initial price of $57.000, but fill-up is expensive: between $100 and $200 in California. Fuel cost around $7000/year.
- Early models have surpassed 180,000 miles with minimal degradation.
- #2 Hyundai XCIENT Fuel Cell.
- Released in 2020.
- Top speed of 53MPH, range of 280 miles.
- $150,000 to $250,000, depending on green energy incentives.
- Read this article.
- #3 Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck.
- Released in 2024.
- 65 MPH max, 621 miles range.
- Is said to be the replacement for diesel in most freight applications, providing a pathway for decarbonization,
- Read about #4 to #10.
Perhaps, though, the promise of fusion has turned a corner, for the following billionaires are now beginning to invest in this development:
Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI): A major investor in Helion Energy, leading a $500 million funding round. Helion is working toward providing commercial fusion power to Microsoft by 2028.- Bill Gates (Co-founder of Microsoft): Backs Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) through his firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. He is also associated with TerraPower (fission) and has invested in General Fusion.
- Jeff Bezos (Founder of Amazon): Investing in General Fusion, a Canadian firm working on magnetized target fusion.
- Peter Thiel (Co-founder of PayPal): Through his firm Mithril Capital, he is a backer of Helion Energy.
- Marc Benioff (CEO of Salesforce): Invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
- Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz (Co-founders of Facebook): Both have invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
- Masayoshi Son (CEO of Softbank): Invested in Blue Laser Fusion
To close, I asked Google AI how Canadians feel about President Donald Trump:
Based on polling and analysis from early 2026, here is the breakdown of public opinion:
- Failing Grades: A January 2026 Angus Reid poll found that 66% of Canadians give President Trump an 'F' for his first year back in office.
- Low Favorability: A late 2025 Research Co. poll found that only 18% of Canadians held a favourable opinion of Donald Trump, with 76% holding unfavorable views.
- Top Threat: A April 2026 Abacus Data survey found that 31% of Canadians identify Donald Trump and U.S. trade/economic policies as the top threat to their quality of life—nearly three times higher than any other concern.
- Fear Factor: Four-in-five Canadians (79%) are more fearful than hopeful about the impact of his administration on Canada, with many describing his tenure as "chaotic" and "incompetent".
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