Green
River Electric
Electronic
Introductions
March 1996
On the evening of
March 5, Gov. Paul Patton will be introduced at a reception for
Electrotechnologies Day by Ed Sheriff, chair of the Kentucky
Committee for Marketing Electricity and director of Marketing and
Public Relations for Green River Electric Corporation, an
Owensboro-based electric cooperative serving some 27,000 consumers.
But Ed Sheriff
will be introduced by Oscar the Robot.
Oscar is roughly
the size and shape of a person. He walks, talks, and tells jokes and
is a creation of scientists at Disney World. On March 5 he will help
Ed Sheriff let people know about how electricity can help “achieve
sustainable development through saving energy, boosting
productivity, creating jobs, and improving the environment.” (That’s
what Ed says, not Oscar.)
The path to Ed’s
encounter with a robot began in 1989 at a meeting of several
electric co-op employees from all across Kentucky. They knew that
new and emerging electric technologies and techniques could do a lot
to increase efficiency, save people money, and enhance the
environment. Trouble is, not enough other people knew about how to
take advantage of those ideas.
Ed was a part of
that discussion and wound up chairing an effort that united all the
utilities in Kentucky to put these ideas to work. Since then the
group, formally organized into KCME, has racked up impressive
accomplishments.
In one of its
first efforts, KCME helped establish an electric research lab at the
University of Kentucky. The Electric Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning Training and Research Laboratory has been a center for
a certification program for contractors working with geothermal
heating and cooling systems. KCME also started a regular conference
for architects and engineers.
“We knew that
electric geothermal heating and cooling was the most efficient, but
a lot of other people didn’t know,” Ed says. “Now we know many
architects who recommend it for schools, residences, and commercial
buildings.”
KCME has also
organized an electric cooking expo showing how electric technology
benefits the food service industry, and has helped establish
standards to improve the energy efficiency of manufactured housing.
The rotation
among participating utilities has brought Ed back as KCME chair. And
on March 5 the group will join several state government departments,
the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and others in sponsoring
ElectroExpo ’96, open to the public from noon to 4:30 p.m. at the
Farnham Dudgeon Civic Center in Frankfort. That evening there will
be a reception for government and elected officials, to let them
know about what electrotechnologies can do.
The expo will
feature some 45 displays of electric technologies, including
electric cars, use of lasers, motor technologies, and how robotic
arms and other automated systems can benefit industry.
And, of course,
Oscar the Robot will be there.-Paul Wesslund |
