Bodo's Current Issue

Editorial

How Green is our Mind?

It is nice to get feedback from engineers who share and circulate literature in their laboratory. When I was a young engineer a route slip was attached to magazines for us to sign once we’d reviewed them. Reading the same material encouraged discussion. There were up to ten people in our group using trade magazines as a source of new information and other design groups worked the same way. It’s good to see that the willingness to share resources is still there. The requests I get from all over the world to supply an extra hard copy for the central library prove to me that print still has a strong value to engineers.

Many readers, on the other hand, go to the web and download the .pdf’s they need and still others want only to receive the e-newsletter. The variety of methods used for accessing the information in my publication shows that the adaptation of working habits towards electronic media is slowly progressing.

This means that readership calculations should recognize a multiplication factor over circulation numbers alone, but this has yet to be defined. Whatever the numbers, I am happy and proud to serve the industry. My network of contacts, built through decades of working in the power electronic industry, ensures that new and useful information quickly finds its way into the magazine - the Gallery represents just the tip of the iceberg for using the space available. I have to thank all of my friends and supporters and especially ones not yet pictured in the Gallery. I try my best to keep up with all of you.

We have a number of strong shows coming up in Europe. APEC just took place in California and we are looking forward to the PCIM in Nuremberg as the next big measure of progress. This year brings with it expectations for a better economy than in 2009.

I am seeing some strong, positive impulses in the industry but am still concerned about the banks returning to their Las Vegas gambling mode, paying high incentives to trading people and encouraging unwarranted risktaking while governments and our taxes are still being counted upon for unforeseen outcomes. Bank management could use a basic course in mathematics to calculate simple risks. If engineers calculated risks for transportation systems the way bankers calculate for some investments, we would be faced with a lot of fatalities and well-deserved criticism.

My Green Power Tip for March: Share technical publications in your company, laboratory, university or other places where it makes sense and help conserve resources used in the printing process. We have only one world to live in and our children will benefit from us being careful with resources.

See you at the CIPS and New Energy conferences.

Best regards,
Bodo

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