Stan,
That is an excellent letter. It's always nicer to be able to convey the
message with a compliment than with a complaint.
I'm not a member of SAE and have not read the article, so my voice would
be suspicious and raise thoughts of some letter-writing campaign.
I recommend that you just send it on in on your own authority, which is
indeed considerable!
Jim
Stan Jakuba wrote:
Anyone to support this letter to ed?
The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) used to publish its Automotive
Engineering mag. in SI (only) a decade ago. Situation deteriorated to
dual units, often I-P first. The deterioration was caused, as told, by
an anti-SI letter campaign of some 6 or 8 letters (mostly from
retirees). Apparently, that few letter can change a publishing policy.
Undoubtedly, there was a background work by someone - the person who
might have instigated all them letters!. Anyway, each letter counts.
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Stan Jakuba <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*To:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Sent:* 08 Jun 04, Wednesday 12:08
*Subject:* letter to editor
Dear Editor:
I want to compliment you and Mr. P. Wright on the contents and the use
of units in the "F1 Moves Toward Hybridization" article (AE, May 2008,
pg 60).
It summarizes the status and options in the energy storage devices well
and it uses SI units throughout. In particular, I appreciate the lack of
the annoying conversions to other units with the energy and power
values. I wish, in the future, all articles dealing with energy, power,
densities, etc. were in SI (only).
Using SI units and prefixes makes comparisons among energy numbers in
any industry, be it automotive, oil, agricultural, or power, immediate.
They eliminate the need for conversions among the plethora of energy
units (Btu, kWh, therms, joules, etc.) along with the not-so-rare
conversion errors. Values in SI let us compare among capital outlay such
as $/W or $/m², costs such as heat in fuel or electricity (both
in $/GJ), the amount of space taken in W/m³, area power density in W/m²,
annual road vehicle consumption in joules (EJ), annual average power in
watts (GW), energy contents in J/m³ or J/kg, vehicular energy
consumption in J/m, etc. Once everyone use SI, we'll be better
positioned for cooperation in evaluating alternative energy options. In
all fields of engineering, by using SI we will soon remember the unified
reference values for power, energy, space, cost, rates, densities, etc.
because the numbers will be repetitious and
ubiquitous. Cross-disciplines communication becomes easier. The
multi-meaning numbers "billion", "milliard" and similar words causing
confusion today will become clear when replaced with the giga, mega, or
whatever appropriate, prefix.
SAE is now SAE International. Let's use the international system of
units to help SAE members communicate easier outside the US as well as
among ourselves.
Stan Jakuba
SAE member. '70
S I Jakub Associates
43 Westbrook Rd
West Hartford CT 06107
Tel: 860 521 7924
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James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(H) 931.657.3107
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