Facts or Fiction? Politics or Science.

I recently picked up my monthly copy of one of the pre-eminent magazines in the sciences that I have subscribed to for many years. This month’s cover article was on American energy policy. OK, fine. We are all concerned about the rising prices at the pump and impact (mostly negative) on our economy.

But it freaked me out when I tried to read the article. The entire thing was an editorial based on reader responses to a survey sent out by the magazine. No facts, no science, no specific issue really, not even any survey demographics, no factual support for several pages of random assertions about what different factions in the government are doing wrong and the havoc being wreaked in our economy.

I admit, I got a little irate. Read more

Energy Policy

Americans have been focusing on energy reduction in this country for some time. In an upcoming article to be published in Design World, I will detail some of the impact of national energy policy on how electric motors should be built, and how they should be used. The main conclusion of the article from a technical perspective, is that the big energy savings come from control system solutions, not from incremental improvements in electric motors themselves, which the Department of Energy has spent a lot of money pursuing.

It is reasonable that the government concerns itself with how energy is used. But what is appropriate for implementing policy? Is it in the national interest to develop better washers and dryers? better refrigerators? better air conditioning systems? Or is this the domain of private enterprise? Business that is for profit and normally makes the investment in product development sometimes gets a hand from government. Read more

Motors, R&D and Politics

The “Green Revolution” is under way. Regardless of how you rationalize it, there is a lot of activity around reducing the amount of energy being consumed in almost every aspect of American life. For the most part, its well intentioned. As good stewards of the resources we have, we should use them responsibly.

Energy conservation has been an active part of the mechatronics world for some time. The variable frequency drive, now a $1B+/year product is marketed and sold because of its ability to reduce electrical consumption in about 1/3 of all applications. So we who are part of the drives and controls community have been in the vanguard of energy conservation for many years. An often overlooked fact. We’ve been “Green” for decades. Read more