---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 20:32:48 -0500 (CDT)
From: Gene Mechtly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "G. H. Friedman, Inspector General" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "Standards Program, EIA" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
James R. Frysinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: EIA Failure to use SI
Dear Mr. Friedman:
James R. Frysinger requests that the Energy Information Agency
use the International System of Units (SI) *preferentially* as directed
by Executive Order 12770 of 1991.
Mr. Frysinger and I, both, appeal to you to rectify this failure
of the EIA. (See the message below addressed to Ms. Battles of the EIA.)
Why has the EIA failed to comply with EO 12770?
Please investigate.
Sincerely,
Prof. Eugene A. (Gene) Mechtly, College of Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
1406 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 19:59:46 -0400
From: James R. Frysinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: ... ... ... ...
Subject: Units used on EIA Web Pages
Dear Ms. Battles,
I'm going nuts trying to glean the information I need from your EIA web
pages. It's a real chore involving conversion tables and a calculator
everytime I want to look something up and comprehend it in SI units of
measure. Until I convert your data to SI, I cannot compare information
across the energy content of fuels (BTU, therm, kWh), production
amounts (tons, pounds, barrels, cubic feet), or location (the U.S., the
rest of the world).
All of this was supposed to have been fixed as a result of the Omnibus
Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 amendments to the Metric
Conversion Act of 1975 and Executive Order 12770, "Metric Usage in
Federal Government Programs" (1991). When is the Department of Energy
going to complete their metrication as required by these references?
I know better than to believe that we need to wait for the various
industries to do this. Obviously they won't provide the data in SI form
until the federal government (that's you!) requires it. In the
meantime, I would appreciate it if my agents in Washington (you again!)
would do the conversions prior to posting the data. I happen to be
capable of doing the conversions, though it slows my work down
tremendously, but what about normal Americans? How can they make any
fair comparisons when every category uses its own arcane units? And
please don't tell me that Americans understand TBTU/BB better than they
understand J/kg.
Have mercy on us, please! When can we expect to see your data in SI
form? What are you telling the President about your progress in your
annual report via the Department of Commerce?
regards,
James R. Frysinger
--
James R. Frysinger University/College of Charleston
10 Captiva Row Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Charleston, SC 29407 66 George Street
843.225.0805 Charleston, SC 29424
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cert. Adv. Metrication Specialist 843.953.7644
