Dear Lenora Bohren, Director, National Center for Vehicle Emissions Control and Safety NCVECS
I am responding to a note passed on to me from Robert H. Bushnell PhD PE; Robert and I have corresponded for several years. I would like to add to his comments to you. As you know the transition, or upgrade, to the metric system in the USA is inevitable. In most areas of industry in the USA the upgrade has already taken place. The President of the United States Metric Association told me in 2005 that she estimated the use of the metric system in industry in the USA as "above 70 %" but, I am sure that it is higher than this right now in 2010. Consider the all-metric computer you are using right now. It's chips are designed and made in nanometres, its logic board layout in micrometres, its case and screen in millimetres, and then, you bought it as (something like) the 17" (17 inch) model. Similarly the 10 000 parts in your can were designed and made in micrometres and millimetres, and then sold to you with the letters "mph" on the dashboard and the letters "psi" on the tyres to give you the illusion that you are driving an "English measures" car and not driving an all-metric car. I am often asked: "If the Metric System is so EASY and widespread, why has the USA not jumped on the bandwagon?" I think that the answer is, the USA government, including schools and colleges, has consistently chosen the wrong method for their metrication process. Where the best method choice was made the metrication upgrade was smooth, cheap, and (perhaps best above all), FAST. Think of 2 litre soft drink bottles where they chose to use "direct metrication" rather than the government and schools choice of "metric conversion". It is "metric conversion", coupled with its associated "hidden metric" that is, on my opinion, at fault in the USA metrication process. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/metric_conversion.html for a few further thoughts on this important topic. I wish you well with the deliberations of your conference, but I truly wish that would seriously consider how NCVECS is going to adjust with honesty to the inevitability of the upgrade of the USA to the metric system. Keep in mind that it has already happened in the bulk of of the automotive industry and the only drawback right now is about honestly saying this, out loud, to the citizens of the USA and especially to students. When you do this you will not need to reinvent metric-like units, such as the confusing "kW-hrs" as the symbols of all units has already been established on a worldwide scale by the "International System of Units (SI); see http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure By the way, as a matter of fun, you might like to consider just how much metric system has already entered your life. I challenge you to not use the metric system at all for 24 hours; see http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/DontUseMetric.pdf for guidance on how to get started. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
