This email is now coming from Substack. Subscriber email addresses will be deleted from MailChimp once we have checked that the Substack transfer has worked successfully. Comments can now be written under the newsletter on the Substack web site. I hope this is useful.
Hello Olly. I hadn't been following the controversy. I suppose it is a problem with all 'platforms' that do not control the content of their 'publishers'. However Substack is a very efficient route for sending out emails for people like me. It does not provide the detailed readership data that MailChimp does but everything else is much smoother. All best wishes, Chris
I have been reading Carbon Commentary for a few years now and always look forward to it. I hope the move to Substack is successful. The nylon story in particular caught my attention, given the importance of, and slow progress around, the challenge of ghost nets. Thanks Chris.
Hello Jaimin, one of the advantages of the possible new approach to nylon is that the catalyst only breaks down nylon. If it works as promised, this is a huge advantage over other approaches, which do not allow selective 'monomerisation' of individual types of plastic, and thus will produce a pure monomer which can then be reused. Thanks very much indeed for writing. Chris
To help my understanding: what is it about warehouse forklift trucks that makes them especially well suited to fuel cells? I don't know anything about warehouse operations, but I would think these vehicles would travel relatively short distances per day and thus would be a good fit for batteries.
Hello Steve, I believe that the reason that warehouse forklifts are more likely to use fuel cells than any other transport medium is that they are often needed 24 hours a day. (In an Amazon centre, for example). So hours spent charging are costly to the owner. Yes, the forklifts don't do many kilometres per day but do get intensive use.
Thanks! It's interesting, I wouldn't have guessed this would be a problematic use case for batteries. (It's interesting that the Plug Power case studies all compare against lead-acid batteries; assuming those aren't cherry-picked, presumably the existing solutions aren't using lithium batteries for some reason. Also, the refrigerated-environment use case isn't something I would have thought about.)
Thanks to the note in the regular emails, I just tried out Substack for the first time. What a great feature to be able to comment on the stories. Thanks for the continued effort compiling these stories @Chris!
Hello Martin, thanks for the message. It's great fun to be able to do the research each work to write ten little stories, and it keeps me up-to-date. And I like to be able to provide a predominantly English-speaking audiences news items from outside the Anglosphere! Chris
Slightly unfortunate time to pick substack for your newsletter, still loving the updates though.
Hello Olly. I hadn't been following the controversy. I suppose it is a problem with all 'platforms' that do not control the content of their 'publishers'. However Substack is a very efficient route for sending out emails for people like me. It does not provide the detailed readership data that MailChimp does but everything else is much smoother. All best wishes, Chris
I have been reading Carbon Commentary for a few years now and always look forward to it. I hope the move to Substack is successful. The nylon story in particular caught my attention, given the importance of, and slow progress around, the challenge of ghost nets. Thanks Chris.
Hello Jaimin, one of the advantages of the possible new approach to nylon is that the catalyst only breaks down nylon. If it works as promised, this is a huge advantage over other approaches, which do not allow selective 'monomerisation' of individual types of plastic, and thus will produce a pure monomer which can then be reused. Thanks very much indeed for writing. Chris
To help my understanding: what is it about warehouse forklift trucks that makes them especially well suited to fuel cells? I don't know anything about warehouse operations, but I would think these vehicles would travel relatively short distances per day and thus would be a good fit for batteries.
Hello Steve, I believe that the reason that warehouse forklifts are more likely to use fuel cells than any other transport medium is that they are often needed 24 hours a day. (In an Amazon centre, for example). So hours spent charging are costly to the owner. Yes, the forklifts don't do many kilometres per day but do get intensive use.
Plug Power, which has focused on fuel cells for forklifts, publishes a series (obviously partial) of commentaries here - https://resources.plugpower.com/gendrive-forklift-fuel-cell/implementing-fuel-cells-in-material-handling-learning-from-leaders - with more details on why I thinks warehouse owners should switch to its technology.
Thank you for writing! Chris
Thanks! It's interesting, I wouldn't have guessed this would be a problematic use case for batteries. (It's interesting that the Plug Power case studies all compare against lead-acid batteries; assuming those aren't cherry-picked, presumably the existing solutions aren't using lithium batteries for some reason. Also, the refrigerated-environment use case isn't something I would have thought about.)
Thanks to the note in the regular emails, I just tried out Substack for the first time. What a great feature to be able to comment on the stories. Thanks for the continued effort compiling these stories @Chris!
Hello Martin, thanks for the message. It's great fun to be able to do the research each work to write ten little stories, and it keeps me up-to-date. And I like to be able to provide a predominantly English-speaking audiences news items from outside the Anglosphere! Chris