Shvets's proposal is technically feasible, says Robert Schainker, a senior technical executive at the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, but the prospects of the ambitious storage project, like those of other large energy installations, depend more on its economic viability.
"The concern for a utility is for these high-impact, low-probability events," said Luke van der Zel, a technical executive with the Electric Power Research Institute.
If you count free kicks in the offensive third, the U.S. has had the advantage in number, but certainly not in technical executive.
"Two years ago here I remember people looking at the new carriers, the Qwests and Level 3's, and thinking that they were just going to make convergence happen," said a senior technical executive for a big local communications carrier.
In the contact I have had with several corporations that enjoyed highly respectable scientific research establishments as a technical executive, consultant and plodding researcher, I have observed how the technical and business communities were constantly at odds in their goals and the means to achieve them.
Sun's previous great challenge came in 1992-93, before the Internet boom, said Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google and a former top-ranking technical executive at Sun. "I worked for Scott as C.E.O., and he is clearly capable of driving change in the organization.
"I remember a meeting with a very senior technical executive, and my boss asked him, 'What do we have to do?'" to create a successful consumer product.
Ramsay Chang, an EPRI senior technical executive who has focused on mercury, said there have been no real game-changing technologies introduced in the 25 years since Congress directed EPA to address power plant toxic air pollution.
"To conclude our day's running with a front-wing failure was an unfortunate end to what had, to that point, been a very positive start to our winter," said Mercedes technical executive director Paddy Lowe.
