Those are fair considerations. However, I think in the context of a massive cargo ship, a penalty on energy density might be worth it to avoid the risks associated with ammonia releases. Of course, a nuclear reactor powered ship would run on the highest energy density fuel and is arguably safer to operate than a ship that runs on ammonia.

Hydrogen is definetly harder to store than ammonia and it takes a lot of energy to compress or liquify it.

It takes a lot of energy to convert hydrogen to ammonia and whatever challenges there are to handling and storing hydrogen, ammonia has its own. At least a hydrogen release isn’t a toxic, polluting event.

And I certainly don’t want commercial nuclear ships, because companies will just create “independent” companies that will “mysteriously” go bankrupt once a ship reaches end of life and needs to be decontaminated.

So the taxpayer would have to pay for the decomissioning costs.

Yes. Let’s just get ahead of the game and nationalize shipping.

Hydrogen will leak through a latex balloon, but it is not going to leak through the steel wall of a pressure vessel. The leak risk occurs at the various fitting connections in a hydrogen system, which is overcome by using the proper fittings.

That is an interesting article, but the authors are clear that they don’t know what to expect for hydrogen leakage in a developed hydrogen economy. Sure, hydrogen might be a greenhouse gas, but you can’t really compare it to carbon dioxide because that’s a waste product that we actively dispose of to the atmosphere. You can’t really compare it to methane either because it’s naturally abundant and the LEL is much higher. Relatively leaky valves and fittings are unfortunately acceptable in natural gas service. In other words, hydrogen leakage is barely tolerable, so we have no choice but to employ technology and techniques to prevent it.

It does not leak like crazy. I know because I have experience engineering and operating high pressure electrolysis, storage, and fueling systems for hydrogen. Even when it does leak, what’s nice about hydrogen is that it’s not toxic to humans or pollutive to the environment, unlike ammonia or fossil fuels. Hydrogen leaks are easily mitigated with proven detection and ventilation techniques.

The serious issues in the articles you linked are essentially red tape and public perception, which have to be surmountable if we’re taking global warming seriously.

Why run ammonia when you can just run liquid hydrogen? Why run liquid hydrogen when you can just run a nuclear reactor?

This is great! The Whalers had one of the best sports team logos, too!

When our clothes and electronics or whatever mostly or exclusively come from the other side of the world, I don’t think it’s because corporations are taking advantage of economies of scale so much as they are doing arbitrage for labor and environmental protections. If we bring production closer to the people who need the products, then we get jobs, autonomy, and accountability. We can still have economies of scale at the regional level. Not every town needs the same set of factories of course.

Airlines are too fast in several senses. First, people don’t usually need to get somewhere as quickly as an airline allows. Someone who is really on urgent business can use telepresence or a charter instead. Second, the airports on either end of a trip are frequently too slow, making airlines and example of “hurry up and wait”. Third, airlines move people through timezones very quickly, exacerbating jet lag.

I agree with you that airlines are too uncomfortable even for their speed to overcome. Slow travel can be much more comfortable. For example, many people are willing to spend days on trains and cruise ships.

Because I think it’s bad economics to try to transport finished goods over long distances quickly. It’s better to transport raw materials long distances slowly (ship and rail) and employ people to manufacture things near where they are needed.

Yes, but for passenger service rather than cargo. Passenger jets are too fast, too uncomfortable, and cause too much pollution.

Well, puns are the quintessential dad crime.

Perhaps I’m ashamed to admit that there’s no crime in asking.

Do the cameras just connect to a switch with PoE?

I didn’t get any useful results: https://www.google.com/search?q=ads

Around here in New Jersey, yes. People typically replace their doorbell switches with camera devices from Google or Amazon. People even set them up at their apartment doors. Dedicated NVR systems are also commonly installed in houses. In my case, I am not especially concerned about break-ins. Break-ins are rare in my neighborhood and I don’t think a camera system would do much to prevent one anyway. There have just been some nuisances over the past year including my bird feeder camera getting swiped and someone repeatedly letting their dog poop right next to my house without cleaning it up. I’d like to be able to have recordings of problems like that so I can maybe do something about it. Also, I like the idea of being able to check on things when I’m away.

Thanks!

I also have dog. Lots of great features exclusive this platform, but it has a few shortcomings as you mentioned.

Well, I’m pretty sure they’re not yellow jackets. Those and bald faced hornets are ones to fear around here. Other wasps and bees are usually pretty chill in comparison. Fortunately, there’s no danger to me in squishing some pupae; just yucky.