Appliance Design - March 2009 - (Page 4)

EDItorIal ilmmaker Sam Peckinpah once made a Western in which a bad guy filled his shotgun shells with dimes instead of pellets to more effectively solve his people problems. That image of money spraying out of a shotgun was the first thing that popped into my head when thinking about President Obama’s stimulus package. We are told that it will save or create 3.5 million jobs, though the formula behind that neat round number is more likely from a PR handbook than an economics textbook. But how can we ordinary folk begin to argue the bill’s line items when even Nobel Prize winning economists disagree on its content and differ as to whether it will even work? The lack of consensus should not surprise us. When you are lost in a place where you’ve never been, there are no expert opinions, only competing gut instincts stated authoritatively. Without analyzing the specifics, it’s clear that the bill seeks to accomplish too much too fast. The mélange of content should have been split into several bills, with the first focused on stimulating the economy and its prime mover — manufacturing. A bridge, whether to nowhere or somewhere, won’t get built for a couple of years. An appliance purchased today adds another unit to someone’s production schedule today, which is why the Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program was among the more useful portions of the plan. A smaller, first out-of-the-gate bill would have targeted more such efforts, those that empower people to buy things, and those that help manufacturers to make and sell things. Instead, we got a laundry list of provisions that included infrastructure, tax reform, energy, education, health care, transportation, bailout of state and municipal governments, and much, much more, as they say in the infomercials. Now these may all be good things to address, but the bill wasn’t called The All Good Things Package; it was labeled as a stimulus package, and that should have been the focus. The laundry list could have, and should have, come later as a series of separate bills, with each getting the requisite degree of debate and scrutiny. F are Fast Moves the right Moves? The overreaching potpourri President Obama signed poses two perils for him. One is that having a little bit of everything may well render it ineffective. Worse yet, is that it becomes known as the Pork Barrel Special, which would undermine his moral authority to forge consensus solutions for the numerous problems that lie ahead. The first weeks of the new administration generated a few other disconcerting notes that seem hastily played with insufficient reflection. For example, attempts to bolster the Buy American provisions of the stimulus bill ignored the importance of exports to the U.S. economy and the potential for backlash from other countries assembling their own economic fixes. Trade wars do much more harm than good — one of the few things economists agree upon. Postponing the mandatory transition to digital television broadcasts was another bad idea. It delays the boost in consumer electronics sales that will accompany the transition, and it sowed confusion, given that about one-quarter of TV stations shut off their analog signal on the original date. Even more troubling was the president’s January speech hinting that he will encourage individual states to pursue their own regulatory agendas for battling climate change. Such a scenario would be a disaster for the appliance and HVAC/R industries, which would be burdened with meeting an ever-changing patchwork of regulations. Good standards that are reasonable and beneficial should be applied everywhere; bad ones nowhere. We understand the urgency of this nation’s problems and the need for a new president to demonstrate he is a man of action who hits the ground running. But it’s not enough to have fast moves, they have to be the right moves. < ® www.applianceDESIGN.com publishing staff Fern Sheinman Publisher richard J. Babyak Editor larry adams Managing Editor Daryl Delano Economics Editor E’lisa Campbell Production Manager Matt Britcher Art Director (619) 233-4585 sheinmanf@bnpmedia.com (440) 886-1210 babyakr@bnpmedia.com (773) 467-8590 adamsl@bnpmedia.com (508) 746-7986 dhdelano@comcast.net (248) 244-6257 campbelle@bnpmedia.com (248) 486-7800 britcherm@bnpmedia.com circulation Christine a. Baloga (248) 244-8262 Corporate Audience Development Director balogac@bnpmedia.com teresa owens (248) 244-6451 Group Audience owenst@bnpmedia.com Development Manager alison Illes (248) 244-1730 Corporate Fulfillment Manager Illesa@bnpmedia.com Catherine M. ronan (248) 244-8259 Corporate Audience ronanc@bnpmedia.com Audit Manager robert liska 800-223-2194 List Manager robert.liska@edithroman.com marketing lynn Davidson Marketing Director Paul Dykstra Trade Show Coordinator (248) 244-6417 davidsonl@bnpmedia.com (248) 786-1609 dykstrap@bnpmedia.com editorial advisory board Mark Skaer, Senior Editor, The News Susan Sutton, Editor, Ceramic Industry roy Sakelson, Editor-in-Chief, Circuitree tom Williams, Publisher/Editor, Quality Magazine Darlene Brezinski, Ph.D., Editor, Paint and Coatings Industry Don Hegland, Editor, Assembly BNP Media Helps People Succeed in Business with Superior Information BNP Media 2401 West Big Beaver Rd., Suite 700, Troy, MI 48084, (248) 362-3700, Fax: (248) 362-0317; www.bnpmedia.com For subscription information or service, please contact Customer Service at: call (847) 763-9534 • Fax: (847) 763-9538 or email: AD@halldata.com APPLIANCE DESIGN Volume 57, Issue 1 (ISSN 1552-5937) is published 12 times annually, monthly, by BNP Media, 2401 W. Big Beaver Rd., Suite 700, Troy, MI 48084-3333. Telephone: (248) 362-3700, Fax: (248) 362-0317. No charge for subscriptions to qualified individuals. Annual rate for subscriptions to nonqualified individuals in the U.S.A.: $161.00 USD. Annual rate for subscriptions to nonqualified individuals in Canada: $198.00 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $211.00 (int’l mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2009, by BNP Media. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. Periodicals Postage Paid at Troy, MI and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: APPLIANCE DESIGN, P.O. Box 2148, Skokie, IL 60076. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. GST account: 131263923. Send returns (Canada) to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON, N6C 6B2. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to APPLIANCE DESIGN, P.O. Box 2148, Skokie, IL 60076. For single copies or back issues: contact Ann Kalb at (248) 244-6499 or KalbA@bnpmedia.com. Richard Babyak, Editor E-mail: babyakr@bnpmedia.com | HVAC | Majors | Water Processing | Housewares | Commercial Appliances | | Vending | Medical | Lab | Test & Measurement | Lawn & Garden | Electronics | | Computers | Communications | Business Equipment | 4 applianceDESIGN March 2009 www.applianceDESIGN.com http://www.appliancedesign.com http://www.bnpmedia.com http://www.appliancedesign.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Appliance Design - March 2009

Appliance Design - March 2009 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Transmitting Power Wirelessly Promises to Reduce the Ever-Growing Tangle of Cords and Cables Found in the Modern Home. There Are Different Technological Approaches for Achieving this Goal, and Some Are Already on the Market. Electrochemical Capacitors Can Provide an Extra Peak-Power Boost in Battery-Operated Appliances, Allowing Product Designs to Have Smaller Battery Packs. Metallic Foams Put the Properties of Metals into Lightweight Packages. Applications for this Emerging Technology Include Gas Burners, Heat Exchangers, and Electronics Housings. Hall-Effect Switches Are Compact and Provide a High Degree of Reliability and Durability as They Virtually Eliminate Mechanical Wear, Shock, and Contact Oxidation. Blowing Agents for Polyurethane Foam Insulation Face Increased Scrutiny Due to Global Warming Concerns, but Alternatives with Lower GWP Values May Provide Solutions to Meet These Challenges. Design Marts Association Report: AHAM Advertisers' Index

Appliance Design - March 2009

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