Estimate Air Pollution with Emissions Factors (AP 42)

Posted on 2010/05/11 by admin

The U.S. EPA can help you calculate “typical” air pollution from different emissions sources in the U.S. including fired heaters, refineries, agricultural, chemical and metallurgical industries, etc. Just check out this cool report, AP 42 Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors.

AP 42 can be handy if you want to know some “average” pollution emissions for any kind of estimate or study.

Is it safe to put the brick kiln there? (Photo by joiseyshowaa)

AP 42 uses a very simple equation:

E = A x EF x (1-ER/100)

where the terms are: Continue reading →

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Candidate College: How to become a politician

Posted on 2010/05/05 by admin

Ever thought of running for a political office? This post will show you a video-taped conference where speakers, including successful politicians, try and give some advice about what to do and what to expect.  I also include summary notes if you need the quick version.

Obama Nashua Rally 37

If you can change a room, can you really change the world?

Photo by no.nein

Background: Professional Engineers Ontario had an event to encourage and to teach engineers to run in the Ontario Provincial Parliament (Ontario is a province of Canada). They are trying to push more engineers to run for office. At the end of this post, I have a comment on this desire to encourage engineers to become politicians. But first, let’s look at the advice.

These tips can apply to anyone, of any profession, running in any democratic jurisdiction. Just use common sense and you’ll see a lot that translates. The constant pep-talk to the engineering profession could wear on you a little, but that’s it. The “Candidate College” is 3 video parts (39 mins / 35 mins / 29 mins):   VIDEO LINK

Jump to 8 minutes into first video to skip the preamble. I personally thought that the first 10 minutes of video 2 was the best.

My notes from the videos follow, in case you don’t have time to view it all:

Continue reading →

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Posted in Career Advice, Presentations, Psychology and People Skills | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sparklines: Tiny Graphs to Show Lots of Data

Posted on 2010/04/26 by admin

Sparklines are a great little idea. We all know that a good picture is worth a thousand words. Similarly, sometimes there’s no substitute for a graph of some data. Sparklines are an attempt to get the power of graphs into a tiny, convenient form that can be inserted where they are needed: stripped down, free of fluff, and the size of words.

You may already be familiar with them: haven’t you ever seen a list of stocks, which show the trading symbol, the stock’s current price, but also a tiny graph showing the recent history of the stock so you can see which way it’s price is moving? Here’s a poor mock-up:

Sparkline Stock Example

Sparkline Stock Example

If you haven’t heard of these before, check out this excerpt from Beautiful Evidence by Edward Tufte. This link will beautifully explain what Sparklines are and how they ought to be used: Sparklines: Theory and Practice

…you back? Let’s discuss how to make them. I understand that Sparklines are going to be added as a feature in Microsoft Excel 2010. But what if you do not have that? Well, there are still many options. I’ll suggest three easy choices that can get most people started, assuming you own an older copy of Microsoft Excel:

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Posted in Drawings and Diagrams, Excel | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

“Just say no list” prevents project scope creep

Posted on 2010/04/17 by admin

How about this: write a list of “what we will NOT do on this project” to prevent scope creep?

(A project’s “scope” is the understanding of what is being addressed. “Scope creep” is when the project gets larger than expected, and stretches to cover more work than was originally anticipated. For example, suppose a project included a requirement to replace an old pump, but people discover that the pipe lines are rusted and undersized, and the project grows to also involve redoing the piping. If the project manhours and pay are not updated, the project could easily go over-time and over-budget.)

Don’t get buried by endless changes (Photo by nertzy)

I saw an interesting article in Chemical Processing Magazine: Properly Estimate Engineering Hours. The article was an editorial about how to avoid making a bad estimate of the hours required for a project. And in that article the Dirk Willard mentioned a second article which included a “Just say no list.”

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Brainstorming Methods and Ideas

Posted on 2010/04/12 by admin

Good brainstorming sessions can suggest creative ways through intractable problems. But “just sitting around and thinking” often doesn’t cut it. That’s why I’m going to list methods for Brainstorming. Tons of methods.

Consider this a brainstorming exercise on the different types of brainstorming exercises. I’ll list all the ones I can think of, from the rigorous to the fanciful, and you can pick the ones that sound appealing.

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Posted in Brainstorming & Idea Generation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment