tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post700385161112394672..comments2024-02-16T17:52:44.944-06:00Comments on The Nuclear Green Revolution: Axil on the American EconomyCharles Bartonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01125297013064527425noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7597656451205429515.post-55323690098874957132009-04-24T09:48:00.000-05:002009-04-24T09:48:00.000-05:00Axil has touched two raw nerves with me.
The firs...Axil has touched two raw nerves with me.<br /><br />The first is with regards to American business and engineering. Eight years ago, I lost my job of 26+ years with a company that was once proud of its engineering might. The founders retired and then passed away, and the new generation of management was more interested in making money than in making engineering contributions to the industry. Of course, the engineering jobs faded away. <br /><br />I was fortune to find a new job with a private company still run by the founder, who is passionate about engineering and manufacturing in the USA. He has pressed our purchasing folks to find domestic suppliers and our manufacturing folks to bring work in house. This has been quite successful. Our supplier of printed circuit boards is now domestic, and after working with them for a while to improve their processes, we now have a source for boards that has a lower defect rate than the previous Far East supplier, and is also lower cost! Funny thing, we are still growing strongly, even in today's economic environment.<br /><br />The second raw nerve regards the "smart grid". My company provides intelligent controls for electric power transmission and distribution - the "smart grid", at least at the higher levels. The founder's vision of the smart grid is that we use intellegent controls to keep power flowing to as many people as much of the time as possible. This is somewhat different from others who want to control when (not when YOU want) and at what cost (mostly higher) the consumer uses energy (though they won't say this directly).<br /><br />Soapbox time: Axil is right about the disregard of engineering by business "leaders", at least in the immediate past. I remember well when I lost my job (electrical engineering) that the unemployment rate for electrical engineers was <I>higher</I> than the general unemployment rate. Even so, there was much whining from companies that they could not find engineers. The professional societies decried the lack of students studying engineering (while saying little about how engineers were being treated as commodity labor).<br /><br />I believe the USA is in need of an engineering and manufacturing renaissance, and I believe that energy production from nuclear sources can be one of the leaders of this movement if roadblocks are be removed.donbnoreply@blogger.com