People lucky enough to be on the roads at 7am in Burlington, Vermont might catch sight of NRG Systems mechanical engineer Paul Smith on his way to work:
Frequent Answers
The yellow car gets so much attention that he’s taped a list of “Frequent Answers” to its side.

Viewing Posts in "Engineering + Technology"
“I always thought of myself as a humanities person as a kid, but I liked electronics.
Last month I attended the Solar Power International conference in Dallas, TX -- North America’s largest solar industry trade show with 24,000 attendees -- to gain greater insight about the industry we recently entered with our complete solar resource assessment (SRA) system.
To measure or not to measure?
If you didn’t notice the announcement of Clean Energy Innovation, a new report and interactive website by Google's philanthropic arm, or like me, you didn’t immediately check it out, you need to do it now. Go ahead; I’ll wait.
Supply chain impact
The nuclear crisis in Japan, continuing to unfold 2 ½ months after the deadly earthquake and tsunami, has reminded us of several important lessons. On a human level, we are reminded of the dreadful risks posed by nuclear power.
In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the return-on-investment of condition based maintenance (CBM) for wind turbines. For those who would like a primer on CBM and the value it provides, start there.
As WINDPOWER 2011 grows closer and closer, I wonder what the “news” from the show will be. On one hand, we must acknowledge that wind energy has hit a trough in the U. S.
One Company’s Journey
NRG Systems has been implementing Lean Manufacturing for almost 15 years. During this journey our focus has changed significantly. In the beginning, with considerable determination and effort, we successfully implemented several key Lean tools.
Owen Clay speaking with his engineering team
How to build acceptance for something new
As a director of engineering for a manufacturing and technology firm, I find myself performing a balancing act.
I strongly believe (always have) that every person wants to do a good job when they come to work. In life in general, we want to be better tomorrow than we are today – this is just human nature.