Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/30/2010
ELECTRICIANS WHO OWN THEIR JOBS
One-man (+ one-woman) bands
By Joe Salimando
In 1990s, as publisher of Electrical Contractor, I was asked by a
marketing fellow for one of the industry's bigger companies for numbers
on the one-man companies in the EC business. I had to admit that I did
not know. I went looking, and was not successful in finding government
data.
Those were the days before the web. Now, the government makes these data available (since '02). The
rest of this piece covers what we can know about these "nonemployer"
contractors, with data from 2002 to 2008.
... read more
Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/25/2010
ELECTRICAL FELLOW ON EV CHARGING
What Eaton's Mike Dixon said
By Joe Salimando
This is the 3rd of three Special Report entries on what I heard in
the 8/10 phone conference on electric vehicle charging sponsored by the
Electric Drive Transportation Assn. Mike Dixon, product line manager at
Eaton for EV chargers, was one of four featured speakers.
... read more
Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/24/2010
True Believers Speak on EVs
Two DoE contractors at work
By Joe Salimando
"Charging 101: What consumers need to know about charging their
plug-in vehicles at home, work or on the go" was the title of a phone
conference held Aug. 10 by the Electric Drive Transportation
Association. The most recent Special Report covered the GM speaker at
the event; this one (below) provides info about two EV program vendors
and what they had to say; the next posting will deal with Eaton's
speaker. MORE
... read more
Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/24/2010
Ready or Not, Here It Comes Down the Street
The electric vehicle is almost here (Part 1)
By Joe Salimando What do consumers and you need to know to plug-in vehicles at home, at work or on the go? What do you, as an electrical professional need to know?
... read more
Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/17/2010
Taking a Longer Look at LEDs
What's new as of mid-August
By Joe Salimando
If you're not eating, breathing, and sleeping LEDs, why not? Here are few reasons you might want to.
... read more
Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/11/2010
Green Magazines Can't See Electrical, Part 3
The readers may not want it. They sure don't get it!
By Joe Salimando This is the 3rd of three blogs on green construction magazines.
... read more
Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/11/2010
Where Are The Electrical Products?
A quick review of what's NOT in Green magazines
By Joe Salimando
In yesterday's Special Report, I addressed the strange phenomenon that electrical products are at the core of energy efficiency, but aren't top of mind in the Green movement. In this next report, let's look specifically at the absence of electrical products in three recent issues of different Green magazines.
... read more
Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/10/2010
WHAT'S GREEN AND YET INVISIBLE?
Answer: Electrical Products
By Joe Salimando
Over time, I've noticed that green construction publications essentially IGNORE
electrical products. In other words, the editors and writers don't spend
a lot of time on things electrical. This is interesting, because one of
the things I've learned in recent years is that a lot of the people who
advocate green construction, renewables, energy efficiency, and such . .
. do not know very much about electrical products.
... read more
Posted by TED Magazine
on 8/7/2010
Another Perspective on Employment Data
A 5-year comparison
By Joe Salimando
Even though I sometimes do it, I'm not in favor of comparisons of
"today" with a place in the past we call "the best ever." However, there are insights that can be seen by comparing the July
2010 national employment data with where we as a nation were 5 1/2
years earlier, in December 2004.
... read more
Posted by tED magazine
on 8/7/2010
Employment Data for the Electrical Industry
Mediocrity continues...
By Joe Salimando
Our government emitted the employment numbers for July on Fri.
8/6. Let's leave the current national numbers alone, as a 12,000
increase, without taking into account the temporary census-taker losses, is a poor way to report the truth, but you have probably already
seen enough reporting on that.
What you may not have seen is data on construction employment in July and June numbers for electrical contracting and electrical distribution.
... read more