Around the Industry

NEMA asks DOE to set motor efficiency standards

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn, Va., its members who manufacture electric motors, and a coalition of other groups filed a petition August 15 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recommending both new and more robust energy-efficiency standards for the types of electric motors used in commercial and industrial applications such as pumps, conveyors, and fans. DOE was mandated to review motor efficiency to make a determination on increased efficiency requirements by the end of this year.

Joining NEMA in the petition were the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP), Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, and Northwest Power and Conservation Council. The petition seeks increased standards for some motors and a significant increase in the scope of motors that will be covered by efficiency standards.

Online fund-raising raises $900,000 to develop Tesla Science Center

Nikola Tesla, the eccentric Serbian inventor who never quite got the credit he deserved for the R&D work he did in the early 20th century in the development of electrical technologies such as fluorescent lighting, wireless communications, robotics and AC current, has a friend in Matthew Inman, creator of theoatmeal.com cartoon.

The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe wants to save one of Tesla’s most famous labs in Shoreham, N.Y., and Inman enlisted the generosity of his 700,000 friends on Facebook; 300,000 followers on Twitter; and 1 million followers on Google+ in a massive online fundraising drive, called, “Let’s Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum.” Inman is using the IndieGoGo crowdfunding website to raise money to purchase the Tesla lab and develop it into a museum, and to date has raised more than $900,000 for that purpose.

You can learn more about the plans for the museum at www.teslasciencecenter.org, and can make a donation at www.indiegogo.com/teslamuseum. And if you are a Tesla fan, check out Inman’s comic strip on the inventor at www.theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla.