TABLE OF CONTENTS The Metric Conversion Act of the United States, signed into law in December 1975, encouraged the adoption of the SI (Systeme International d Unites) but permitted the conversion to be voluntary. Nations that had traditionally used the inch-pound (I-P) system, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, made the change to SI mandatory and simply got on with the job. Nations that traditionally used the metric system also had to adjust to some new units. The new unit of pressure, for example, is pascal, which replaced kg/m 2, and watt replaced kcal/hr as the unit for refrigerating capacity. Because the process was voluntary in the United States, the conversion was herky-jerky and in some cases consisted of no conversion at all. Finally realizing the penalty in trying to conduct international business with an outdated set of units, President Reagan signed the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act, mandating that all federal agencies adopt the metric system for procurements, grants, and other business activity by the end of 1992. In the private sector, ASHRAE President Damon Gowan (1990 1991) challenged ASHRAE to set a date by which time all ASHRAE publications will be expressed in SI units. Gowan s leadership greatly influenced ASHRAE s Long Range Plan of 1991, which specifies that ASHRAE shall implement a policy by 1997 that all publications use the international system of units (SI). Other technical organizations in the United States are attempting to move on with the conversion process. For example, the American...
