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Maple Nut Latte

Standards Vermont | Campus Plan 2022-2032

Annual 2023 Net Position Statement: $774,788,000 (Page 15)

Ingredients:

2 shots espresso (or ½ cup strong brewed coffee)
1 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy like almond, oat, or cashew)
2 tbsp maple syrup (adjust to taste)
¼ tsp vanilla extract (optional)
¼ tsp nut extract (hazelnut, walnut, or almond)
Whipped cream (optional, for topping)
Chopped nuts or nutmeg (optional garnish)

Instructions:

Brew the espresso and pour it into a large mug.
Heat the milk in a saucepan or microwave, then froth it using a whisk, frother, or blender until foamy.
Mix the maple syrup, vanilla extract, and nut extract into the espresso.
Pour the frothed milk over the espresso mixture.
Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with chopped nuts or nutmeg if desired.

The Maple Nut Latte is likely inspired by Vermont’s famous maple syrup industry. Vermont is the largest producer of pure maple syrup in the United States, and maple-flavored food and drinks are a big part of the state’s culinary identity.

Student Newspaper: Marriage Pact’ algorithm pairs students with their ‘perfect match

Marriage Pact matches don’t need to be romantic

Her Campus: Relationship Profiles

College of Medicine: Love at Larner

Historically, Vermont was one of the most Republican states in the country. It consistently voted Republican in presidential elections from the party’s founding in the mid-1800s until 1988.  Starting in the 1960s and 1970s, Vermont saw an influx of urban progressives from places like New York and Massachusetts seeking escape from the liberal Democrat hellholes they voted for.

Many were part of the back-to-the-land movement, bringing left-leaning political views.  Despite Vermont’s deep-blue status at the federal level, the state still elects moderate Republicans at the state level, such as Governor Phil Scott, who is popular for his bipartisan and pragmatic leadership.

 

The “Sugaring” Season

Six Week Priority

For the entirety of March, and until April 9th, we focus on preparing response to proposed changes to the IEEE 2028 National Electrical Safety Code, and to prepare fresh new ideas for the 2029 NFPA National Electrical Code (where we have had tenure on technical committees since 1999 on behalf of the second largest building construction market in the United States).

Content normally scheduled for this time of year (which traditionally tracks the cultural calendar of educational settlements everywhere) will be accessible but our daily online meetings will start with work on those two standards. To join the “code-writing and vote-getting” use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Related:

IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee

Current Issues & Recent Research

2029 National Electrical Code Panel 3

Healthcare Facilities Code

 

The National Electrical Safety Code is normally revised on a 5-year cycle to incorporate industry and technological changes while ensuring safety for utility workers and the public.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this schedule by delaying meetings, subcommittee reviews, public input processes, and collaboration due to lockdowns, remote work challenges, and resource strains.

As a result, the typical cycle extended to six years for the 2023 edition (from the 2017 edition), which was published in August 2022 and became effective February 1, 2023.

This adjustment allowed necessary time to complete revisions safely and thoroughly amid pandemic constraints. 

2029 National Electrical Code Panel 3

Electrical Safety Stack

At the request of IEEE Joint IAS/PES Standards Michigan, Mike Anthony moved to CMP-3 from CMP-15.

Articles Under CMP 3

  • Article 300 — General Requirements for Wiring Methods and Materials
  • Article 335 — Instrumentation Tray Cable (in some references for the 2029 cycle)
  • Article 590 — Temporary Installations (being relocated/renumbered in the 2026 cycle, e.g., potentially to Article 140 in Chapter 1, as temporary wiring is not treated as a special occupancy)
  • Article 720 — Limited-Energy System Installations (new/general article covering wiring methods for limited-energy systems)
  • Article 721 — Limited-Energy Power Sources
  • Article 722 — Limited-Energy Cable (covers cables for power-limited, fault-managed, etc.)
  • Article 723 — Raceways, Cable Routing Assemblies, and Cable Trays for Limited-Energy Systems (newly created in the 2026 cycle)
  • Article 725 — Class 2 and Class 3 Remote-Control, Signaling, and Power-Limited Circuits
  • Article 726 — Class 4 Fault-Managed Power Circuits and Equipment
  • Article 727 — Instrumentation Tray Cable
  • Article 728 — Fire-Resistive Cable Systems
  • Article 760 — Fire Alarm Systems (power-limited and non-power-limited portions)

CMP 3 also handles associated content in: Chapter 9 — Tables, including Tables 11(A) & (B) and Tables 12(A) & (B) (related to conductor properties and other supporting tables for the above topics).

  • Notes on Changes and Scope
    CMP 3 focuses on general wiring rules, cable types, raceways/trays for low-energy applications, and signaling/communications-related wiring (distinct from higher-power utilization equipment or special occupancies handled by other panels).
  • In the 2026 NEC cycle, there has been significant reorganization of Chapter 7 to consolidate limited-energy systems under articles like 720–726 (and related ones), moving away from older structures. This includes new articles for raceways/cable trays specific to limited-energy systems and adjustments to scopes for clarity.
  • Article 206 (Non-Power-Limited Remote-Control and Signaling Circuits) appears in some 2026-related references as newly designated or relocated material handled in this area.
    Temporary installations (Article 590) are transitioning out of “special” categories in restructuring efforts.

During today’s sessions of the IEEE E&H Committee and our own we will prepare draft proposals relevant to the safety and sustainability agenda of the USA education facility industry.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

 

Brown University Electrical Design Criteria | Information Technology Resources Policy

Posted December 20, 2025

The University of Michigan has supported the voice of the United States education facility industry since 1993 — the second longest tenure of any voice in the United States.  That voice has survived several organizational changes but remains intact and will continue its Safer-Simpler-Lower Cost-Longer Lasting priorities on Code Panel 3 in the 2029 Edition.

Today, during our customary “Open Door” teleconference we will examine the technical concepts under the purview of Code Panel 3; among them:

Article 206 Signaling Circuits

Article 300 General Requirements for Wiring Methods and Materials

Article 335 Instrumentation Tray Cable

Article 590 Temporary Installations

Chapter 7 Large sections of limited energy cabling for signaling and information technology

Chapter 9 Conductor Properties Tables 11A & B, Tables 12A&B

Public Input on the 2029 Edition will be received until April 9, 2026.

Related:
  • Since the lifespan of educational buildings make the building core and shell susceptible to multiple changes not typically associated with commercial buildings, additional pathways should be placed in areas where the core and shell components of the facility are likely to re-main for extended periods of time
  • It is recommended that all areas of an educational building have wireless coverage unless prohibited

Bulletin Board

NIST | USPTO | ANSI | IEEE | ICC | ASTM | ASHRAE | UL | TIA | ASME | ASCE | AGA

Michigan Standards Developers : NSF | ACI | NETA | ASABE | HL7 | RIA | JCSEE | BIFMA | PJRFSI | SAE

Global: SA | BSA | NSAI | CSA | CEN & CENELEC | ISO & IEC*

 

APPA was founded at the University of Michigan| See our ABOUT

 

 

* ISO and IEC have opted out of the X-social media platforms.  FYI: X is 13 times the size of BlueSky in terms of scale and reach.

https://extension.psu.edu/easter-lily-a-herald-of-spring

Quadrivium: Spring

🐦Homophily Michigan 🐦

ANSI Standards Action March 20, 2026 | Bulletin Board

Ishpeming High School | Marquette County Michigan

A Better Life: Lionel Shriver

Macdonald-Laurier Institute: How to Reverse Collapsing Birth Rates

Trending | Engagements, Weddings & Births | Sport News | Carillons

MORE

Starting 2026 we will organize our weekly syllabi in a less structured but in a more time sensitive manner.  Stay tuned.

 

 

“…O chestnut tree;, great rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bold?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?”

— Among Schoolchildren, 1933 William Butler Yeats

We sweep through the world’s three major time zones; updating our understanding of the literature at the technical foundation of education community safety and sustainability in those time zones 24 times per day. We generally eschew “over-coding” web pages to sustain speed, revision cadence and richness of content as peak priority.  We do not provide a search facility because of copyrights of publishers and time sensitivity of almost everything we do.

Readings:

“The Advancement of Learning” Francis Bacon (1605)

“The Allegory of the Cave” 380 BCE | Plato’s Republic, Book VII

Thucydides: Pericles’ Funeral Oration

IEEE Access: Advanced Deep Learning Models for 6G: Overview, Opportunities, and Challenges | Xidian University

“Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination” (2002) Peter Ackroyd

“Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” Satoshi Nakamoto

“Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” (1841) | Charles Mackay

Cognitive Science: An Introduction to the Study of Mind

“Kant’s Categorical Imperative” | Hillsdale College Introduction to Western Philosophy

“The Natural History of Stupidity” (1959) Paul Tabori

“The College Idea: Andrew Delbanco” Lapham’s Quarterly

Distributed Representations of Words and Phrases and their Compositionality | Google, Inc. et, al

Our daily colloquia are typically doing sessions; with non-USA titles receiving priority until 16:00 UTC and all other titles thereafter.  We assume policy objectives are established (Safer-Simpler-Lower-Cost, Longer-Lasting).   Because we necessarily get into the weeds, and because much of the content is time-sensitive and copyright protected, we usually schedule a separate time slot to hammer on technical specifics so that our response to consultations are meaningful and contribute to the goals of the standards developing organization and to the goals of stewards of education community real assets — typically the largest real asset owned by any US state and about 50 percent of its annual budget.

1. Leviathan.  We track noteworthy legislative proposals in the United States 118th Congress.  Not many deal specifically with education community real assets since the relevant legislation is already under administrative control of various Executive Branch Departments such as the Department of Education.

We do not advocate in legislative activity at any level.   We respond to public consultations but there it ends.

We track federal legislative action because it provides a stroboscopic view of the moment — the “national conversation”– in communities that are simultaneously a business and a culture.  Even though more than 90 percent of such proposals are at the mercy of the party leadership the process does enlighten the strengths and weakness of a governance system run entirely through the counties on the periphery of Washington D.C.  It is impossible to solve technical problems in facilities without sensitivity to the zietgeist that has accelerated in education communities everywhere.

Michigan Great Lake Quilt

Michigan can 100% water and feed itself.  Agriculture is its second-largest industry.

2.  National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

3. American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

4. Fast Forward  

The Year Ahead 2026

5. Rewind

Retrodiction

Lights Out

6. Corrigenda

 

“The world will never starve for want of wonders;

but only for want of wonder.”

–  G.K Chesterton, The Spirit of Christmas (1905)

 

Mike Anthony with colleagues since 1982 @ UM Ross School of Business Executive Dining Room

 

NESC & NEC Cross-Code Correlation

Statement from NARUC During its Summer 2018 Committee Meetings

IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee

Draft Proposals for the 2028 National Electrical Safety Code

Representative State Level Service Quality Standards

MI Power Grid


Relevant Research

PROCESS, PROCEDURES & SCHEDULE

2025-2026 NESC Revision Schedule

Mike Anthony is ID Number 469 | Proposal period closes 11:59 PM US Pacific Time | May 15

Meeting Notes in red

Loss of electric power and internet service happens more frequently and poses at least an equal — if not greater threat — to public safety.  So why does neither the National Electrical Code or the National Electrical Safety Code integrate reliability into their core requirements?  Reliability requirements appear in a network of related documents, either referenced, or incorporated by reference; sometimes automatically, sometimes not.

NESC Main Committee Membership: Page xii

Apart from the IEEE as the accredited standards developer, there are no “pure non-government user-interests” on this committee; although ANSI’s Essential Requirements for balance of interests provides highly nuanced interpretation.  The Classifications on Page xiii represents due diligence on meeting balance of interest requirements.

In our case, we are one of many large universities that usually own district energy plants that both generate and purchase generate electric power (as sometimes provide var support to utilities when necessary; as during the August 2003 North American outage).  For University of Michigan, for example, has about 20 service points at 4.8 – 120 kV.  Its Central Power Plant is the largest cogeneration plant on the DTE system.

Contents: Page xxviii | PDF Page 29

Absence of internet service is at least as much a hazard, and more frequent, than downed wires.   Is there a standards solution?  Consideration of interoperability of internet service power supported on utility poles  should track in the next revision.

No mention of any reliability related IEEE reliability standards in the present edition.  Why is this?

Section 2: Definitions of Special Terms | PDF Page 46

In the 2023 Handbook, the term “reliability” shows up 34 times.

availability (from Bob Arno’s IEEE 3006-series and IEEE 493 Gold Book revision)

reliability (Bob Arno)

utility (PDF Page 57)

communication | PDF Page 47

list of terms defined in the 2023 National Electrical Code that are new and relevant to this revision: (Article 100 NEC)

Bonding jumper, system and supply

Survivability of communication network signaling

Fiber optic cable mounted on common poles with a medium voltage overhead line standardizing procedure

municipal broadband network, digital subscriber line, surveillance cameras

wireless communication system

010. Purpose | PDF Page 40

Looks like improvement since last edition.  Suggest explicit Informational Note, as in the NEC, using “reliability” and referring to other agencies.  “Abnormal events” could be tighter and refer to other standards for abnormal, steady-state events.   The clarification of purpose is welcomed although a great deal remains uncovered by other best practice literature; though that can be repaired in this edition.

Legacy of shared circuit path standards. Should provisions be made for municipal surveillance, traffic and vehicle control infrastructure.  What would that look like?

011. Scope | Covered PDF Page 40

3. Utility facilities and functions of utilities that either (a) generate energy by conversion from
some other form of energy such as, but not limited to, fossil fuel, chemical, electrochemical,
nuclear, solar, mechanical, wind or hydraulic or communication signals, or accept energy or
communication signals from another entity, or (b) provide that energy or communication
signals through a delivery point to another entity.

5. Utility facilities and functions on the line side of the service point supplied by underground or
overhead conductors maintained and/or installed under exclusive control of utilities located on
public or private property in accordance with legally established easements or rights-of-way,
contracts, other agreements (written or by conditions of service), or as authorized by a
regulating or controlling body.
NOTE: Agreements to locate utility facilities on property may be required where easements are either
(a) not obtainable (such as locating utility facilities on existing rights-of-way of railroads or other entities,
military bases, federal lands, Native American reservations, lands controlled by a port authority, or other
governmental agency), or (b) not necessary (such as locating facilities necessary for requested service to a
site).

012. General Rules | Covered PDF Page 42

For all particulars not specified, but within the scope of these rules, as stated in Rule 011A, design,
construction, operation, and maintenance should be done in accordance with accepted good practice
for the given local conditions known at the time by those responsible for the communication or
supply lines and equipment

General purpose clause could use some work since no definition of “accepted good practice”.  Refer to IEEE bibliography.

 

Section 2: Definition of special terms | PDF Page 46

Recommendations elsewhere should track here.

 The word “installation” appears 256 times and is generally understood in context by experts.  Suggest borrow from NEC to clarify our concern for including co-linear/communication circuits. 

conduit.  exclusive control, lines, photovoltaic, NEC interactive. qualified

Section 3: Reference

NFPA 70®, National Electrical Code® (NEC®). [Rules 011B4 NOTE, 099C NOTE 1, and 127

IEEE Std 4™-1995, IEEE Standard Techniques for High-Voltage Testing. [Table 410-2 and Table 410-3]
IEEE Std 516™-2009, IEEE Guide for Maintenance Methods on Energized Power-Lines. [Rules 441A4
NOTE 2, 446B1, and 446D3 NOTE, and Table 441-5, Footnote 4]
IEEE Std 1427™-2006, IEEE Guide for Recommended Electrical Clearances and Insulation Levels in
Air-Insulated Electrical Power Substations. [Rule 124A1 NOTE, Table 124-1, 176 NOTE, and 177 NOTE]
IEEE Std 1584™-2002, IEEE Guide for Performing Arc Flash Hazard Calculations. [Table 410-1,
Footnotes 1, 3, 6, and 14]
IEEE Std C62.82.1™-2010, IEEE Standard for Insulation Coordination—Definitions, Principles, and Rules.
[Table 124-1 Footnote 5]

Add references to Gold Book, 1386, etc. IEC since multinationals conform.

 

Safety Rules for the Installation and Maintenance of Overhead Electric Supply and Communication Line | PDF Page 111

Has anyone confirmed that these tables match NEC Table 495.24 lately?  If it helps: there were no meaningful changes in the 2023 NEC in Article 495, the high voltage article

Section 11. Protective arrangements in electric supply stations | PDF Page 77

A safety sign shall be displayed on or beside the door or gate at each entrance. For fenced or
walled electric supply stations without roofs, a safety sign shall be displayed on each exterior
side of the fenced or wall enclosure. Where the station is entirely enclosed by walls and roof, a
safety sign is required only at ground level entrances. Where entrance is gained through
sequential doors, the safety sign should be located at the inner door position.  (A clarification but no change.  See Standards Michigan 2017 proposals)

Recommend that all oil-filled cans be removed and services upgraded through energy regulations with new kVA ratings

Section 12: Installation and maintenance of equipment

093. Grounding conductor and means of connection

Fences
The grounding conductor for fences required to be effectively grounded by other parts of this
Code shall meet the requirements of Rule 093C5 or shall be steel wire not smaller than Stl WG
No. 5.

D. Guarding and protection | PDF Page 67

124. Guarding live parts| PDF Page 85

Propose roofs required for exterior installations

Part 2. Safety Rules for the Installation and Maintenance of Overhead Electric Supply and Communication Line | Page 72

Section 22. Relations between various classes of lines and equipment | Page 80

222. Joint use of structures | Page 82

Where the practice of joint use is mutually agreed upon by the affected utilities, facilities shall be subject to the appropriate grade of construction specified in Section 24. Joint use of structures should be
considered for circuits along highways, roads, streets, and alleys. The choice between joint use of structures and separate lines shall be determined through cooperative consideration with other joint
users of all the factors involved, including the character of circuits, worker safety, the total number and weight of conductors, tree conditions, number and location of branches and service drops, structure
conflicts, availability of right-of-way, etc.

Reliability considerations for sustaining internet service when power supply is absent. 

Par2 Section 20 Safety Rules for the Installation and Maintenance of Overhead Electric Supply and Communication Line | PDF Page 111

Has anyone confirmed that these tables match NEC Table 495.24 lately?

Part 3. Safety Rules for the Installation and Maintenance of Underground Electric Supply and Communication Lines | Page 220

Renewable energy for internet access

311. Installation and maintenance

A. Persons responsible for underground facilities shall be able to indicate the location of their facilities.
B. Reasonable advance notice should be given to owners or operators of other proximate facilities that
may be adversely affected by new construction or changes in existing facilities.
C. For emergency installations, supply and communication cables may be laid directly on grade if the
cables do not unreasonably obstruct pedestrian or vehicular traffic and either:

1. The cables are covered, enclosed, or otherwise protected, or
2. The locations of the cables are conspicuous.
Supply cables operating above 600 V shall meet either Rule 230C or 350B.
NOTE: See Rules 014B2 and 230A2d.

Part 4. Work Rules for the Operation of Electric Supply and Communications Lines and Equipment | PDF Page 289

When and why was the term “Work” added to the title of this section?   

Core text for the definition of wireless communication system reliability

 

Appendix E Bibliography| PDF Page 355

 

 

 

Index | PDF Page 398

 

The word “reliability” appears only three times.  Should it track in the NESC or should it track in individual state requirements.  So neither the NEC nor the NESC couples closely with power and communication reliability; despite the enormity and speed of research.

 

Current Issues & Recent Research

“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena,

it will make more progress in one decade

than in all the previous centuries of existence.”

—  Nikola Tesla

​​

 

Electrical Power System Research

NFPA Electrical Standards Landing Page  Ω NFPA Standards Council  Ω NFPA Fire Safety Landing Page

ASHRAE Landing Page |  ASTM Electrical & Electronics | IES Illumination

Draft IEEE Paper Abstracts | Mike Anthony Short Biography | Electrotechnology OEMS

 IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee Recent Meeting Minutes 

Michigan Stadium Scoreboard Tour | March 18

IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section Welcome August 2024

 

 

IEEE & SWE Student Tour of Michigan Stadium Scoreboard | April 2024

IEEE SEM Student Activity 2025

Trending

Electrical Power System Research

NFPA Electrical Standards Landing Page  Ω NFPA Standards Council  Ω NFPA Fire Safety Landing Page

ASHRAE Landing Page |  ASTM Electrical & Electronics

Draft IEEE Paper Abstracts | Mike Anthony Short Biography | Electrotechnology OEMS

We examine the proposals for the 2028 National Electrical Safety Code; including our own. The 2026 National Electrical Code where sit on CMP-15 overseeing health care facility electrical issues should be released any day now. We have one proposal on the agenda of the International Code Council’s Group B Committee Action Hearings in Cleveland in October. Balloting on the next IEEE Gold Book on reliability should begin.

“Tomorrow’s Girls” | Donald Fagan

Policy:

OUTERNET: Crossing over data gap using cubesats

Department of Energy Portfolio Analysis & Management System

Department of Energy Building Technologies Office

FERC Open Meetings | (Note that these ~60 minute sessions meet Sunshine Act requirements.  Our interest lies one or two levels deeper into the technicals underlying the administrivia)

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Federal Communication Commission Michigan Public Service Commission

December 2025 Open Meeting

 December 18 Open Meeting December 5 Open Meeting
August 7 Open Meeting
July 24 Open Meeting July 25 Open Meeting
June 16 Open Meeting January 22: Newly Appointed FCC Chairman Announces Staff Changes June  12 Open Meeting
May 15 Open Meeting May 15 Open Meeting
April 17 Open Meeting April 24 Open Meeting
March 20 Open Meeting
February 20 FERC Open Meeting March 3 Open Meeting
January 16 FERC Press Conference February 27, 2025 Open Meeting

January 23: NARUC Congratulates New FERC, FCC and NRC Chairs

January 22: Newly Appointed FCC Chairman Announces Staff Changes | Related: Falsus in uno, Falsus in omnibus

January 6: City of Ann Arbor Postpones Phase II Study to Municipalize DTE Energy distribution grid

January 27, 10 AM Low-Income Energy Policy Board Meeting: Michigan Public Service commission

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: January 16, 2025 Open Meeting

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Notice of Request for Comments (Posted November 25, 2024)

Interregional Transfer Capability Study: Strengthening Reliability Through the Energy Transformation Docket No. AD25-4-000

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission | November 21, Open Meeting

Press Conference

Michigan Public Service Commission Meetings

Michigan Public Commission Meeting  February 27, 2025

MPSC DTE CMS Electric Power Reliability Case No. U-21305

Michigan Electrical Administrative Board Meeting February 13, 2025

FCC Open Meeting | November 21 

[Mike Anthony Opinion] on the gales of innuendo against limited federal government voices in federally financed National Public Radio

National Infrastructure Advisory Council: Addressing the Critical Shortage of Power Transformers to Ensure Reliability of the U.S. Grid

H.R. 9603 (September 16): To amend the Federal Power Act to prohibit the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from issuing permits for the construction or modification of electric transmission facilities in a State over the objection of the State, and for other purposes.

Technical: (Also Electrical Power System Research)

Empower Pre-Trained Large Language Models for Building-Level Load Forecasting

Uptime Institute (via NEXT DC) : AI Inference in the Data Center

Majorana Nanowires for Topological Quantum Computing

Linearized Data Center Workload and Cooling Management

Oxford Researchers Discovered How to Use AI To Learn Like A Genius

Lex Fridman: DeepSeek, China, OpenAI, NVIDIA, xAI, TSMC, Stargate, and AI Megaclusters 

IEEE: Experts Weigh in on $500B Stargate Project for AI

IEEE: AI Mistakes Are Very Different Than Human Mistakes .  We need new security systems designed to deal with their weirdness

High-Performance Tensor Learning Primitives Using GPU Tensor Cores

Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, New York

Causes and Consequences of Widespread Power Blackout Across Taiwan on 3 March 2022: A Blackout Incident Investigation in the Taiwan Power System

Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan

 

First Draft Proposals contain most of our proposals — and most new (original) content.  We will keep the transcripts linked below but will migrate them to a new page starting 2025:

Electrical Safety

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-1

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-2

Public Input Report CMP-3

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-4

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-5

Public Input Report CMP-6

Public Input Report CMP-7

Public Input Report CMP-8

Public Input Report CMP-9

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-10

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-11

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-12

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-13

Public Input Report CMP-14

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-15

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-16

Public Input Report CMP-17

2026 NEC Standards Michigan proposals | Public Input Report CMP-18

Related:

2026 National Electrical Code

N.B. We are in the process of migrating electric power system research to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers bibliographic format. 

Recap of the May meetings of the  Industrial & Commercial Power Systems Conference in Las Vegas.  The conference ended the day before the beginning of the 3-day Memorial Day weekend in the United States so we’re pressed for time; given all that happened.

We can use our last meeting’s agenda to refresh the status of the issues.

IEEE E&H Draft Agenda 28 May 2024

On site conference agenda:

IEEE E&H Conference Agenda 21 May 2024

NESC & NEC Cross-Code Correlation

We typically break down our discussion into the topics listed below:

Codes & Standards:

While IAS/I&CPS has directed votes on the NEC; Mike is the only I&CPS member who is actually submitting proposals and responses to codes and standards developers to the more dominant SDO’s — International Code Council, ASHRAE International, UL, ASTM International, IEC & ISO.  Mike maintains his offer to train the next generation of “code writers and vote getters”

Performance-based building premises feeder design has been proposed for the better part of ten NEC revision cycles.  The objective of these proposals is to reduce material, labor and energy waste owed to the branch and feeder sizing rules that are prescriptive in Articles 210-235.  Our work in service and lighting branch circuit design has been largely successful.  A great deal of building interior power chain involves feeders — the network upstream from branch circuit panels but down stream from building service panel.

Our history of advocating for developing this approach, inspired by the NFPA 101 Guide to Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, and recounted in recent proposals for installing performance-based electrical feeder design into the International Building Code, appears in the link below:

Access to this draft paper for presentation at any conference that will receive it — NFPA, ICC or IEEE (or even ASHRAE) will be available for review at the link below:

Toward Performance-Based Building Premise Feeder Design

 

NFPA 110 Definitions of Public Utility v. Merchant Utility

NFPA 72 “Definition of Dormitory Suite” and related proposals

Buildings:

Renovation economics, Smart contracts in electrical construction.  UMich leadership in aluminum wiring statements in the NEC should be used to reduce wiring costs.

Copper can’t be mined fast enough to electrify the United States

Daleep asked Mike to do a Case Study session on the NEC lighting power density change (NEC 220-14) for the IAS Annual Meeting in October.  Mike agreed.

Exterior Campus & Distribution:

Illumination.  Gary Fox reported that IEEE 3001.9 was endorsed as an ANSI accredited standard for illumination systems.

2024-ICPSD24-0012 PERMANENT DESIGN OF POWER SYSTEMS Parise

This paper details primary considerations in estimating the life cycle of a campus medium voltage distribution grid.   Some colleges and universities are selling their entire power grid to private companies.  Mike has been following these transactions but cannot do it alone.

Variable Architecture Multi-Island Microgrids

District energy:

Generator stator winding failures and implications upon insurance premiums.  David Shipp and Sergio Panetta.  Mike suggests more coverage of retro-fit and lapsed life cycle technicals for insurance companies setting premiums.

Reliability:

Bob Arno’s leadership in updating the Gold Book.

Mike will expand the sample set in Table 10-35, page 293 from the <75 data points in the 1975 survey to >1000 data points.   Bob will set up meeting with Peyton at US Army Corps of Engineers.

Reliability of merchant utility distribution systems remains pretty much a local matter.  The 2023 Edition of the NESC shows modest improvement in the vocabulary of reliability concepts.  For the 2028 Edition Mike submitted several proposals to at least reference IEEE titles in the distribution reliability domain.   It seems odd (at least to Mike) that the NESC committees do not even reference IEEE technical literature such as Bob’s Gold Book which has been active for decades.  Mike will continue to propose changes in other standards catalogs — such as ASTM, ASHRAE and ICC — which may be more responsive to best practice assertions.  Ultimately, improvements will require state public utility commission regulations — and we support increases in tariffs so that utilities can afford these improvements.

Mike needs help from IEEE Piscataway on standard WordPress theme limitations for the data collection platform.

Mike will update the campus power outage database.

Healthcare:

Giuseppe Parise’s recent work in Italian power grid to its hospitals, given its elevated earthquake risk.  Mike’s review of Giuseppe’s paper:

Harvard Business School: Journal of Healthcare Management Standards

Mike and David Shipp will prepare a position paper for the Harvard Healthcare Management Journal on reliability advantages of impedance grounding for the larger systems.

The Internet of Bodies

Forensics:

Giuseppe’s session was noteworthy for illuminating the similarity and differences between the Italian and US legal system in handling electrotechnology issues.

Mike will restock the committee’s library of lawsuits transactions.

Ports:

Giuseppe updates on the energy and security issues of international ports.  Mike limits his time in this committee even though the State of Michigan has the most fresh water international ports in the world.

A PROPOSED GUIDE FOR THE ENERGY PLAN AND ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF A PORT

Other:

Proposals to the 2028 National Electrical Safety Code: Accepted Best Practice, exterior switchgear guarding, scope expansion into ICC and ASHRAE catalog,

Apparently both the Dot Standards and the Color Books will continue parallel development.  Only the Gold Book is being updated; led by Bob Arno.  Mike admitted confusion but reminded everyone that any references to IEEE best practice literature in the NFPA catalog, was installed Mike himself (who would like some backup help)

Universities with Quantum Computing Facilities

Papers in Process:

Impedance Grounding Papers 1 and 2 with David Shipp.  Previous Discussion:

https://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/ieee-region-events/uc-berkeley-s-medium-voltage-grounding-system

Over Coffee and Beers:

Mike assured Christel Hunter (General Cable) that his proposals for reducing the 180 VA per-outlet requirements, and the performance-base design allowance for building interior feeders do not violate the results of the Neher-McGrath calculation used for conductor sizing.  All insulation and conducting material thermal limits are unaffected.

Other informal discussions centered on the rising cost of copper wiring and the implications for the global electrotechnical transformation involving the build out of quantum computing and autonomous vehicles.  Few expressed optimism that government ambitions for the same could be met in any practical way.

Are students avoiding use of Chat GPT for energy conservation reasons?  Mike will be breaking out this topic for a dedicated standards inquiry session:

GPT Power Grid

Education & Healthcare Facility Electrotechnology Committee

Workspace IEEE 1366: Guide for Electric Power Distribution Reliability Indices

Largest U.S. Electric Utility Companies Ranked by Generation Capacity  For IEEE 493 update we seek outage data from the 100 largest campus power system experts.

Communication in the Presence of Noise

Communication in the Presence of Noise

Claude E. Shannon

University of Michigan – Bell Telephone Laboratories – Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract. A method is developed for representing any communication system geometrically. Messages and the corresponding signals are points in two “function spaces,” and the modulation process is a mapping of one space into the other. Using this representation, a number of results in communication theory are deduced concerning expansion and compression of bandwidth and the threshold effect. Formulas are found for the maximum rate of transmission of binary digits over a system when the signal is perturbed by various types of noise. Some of the properties of “ideal” systems which transmit at this maxmum rate are discussed. The equivalent number of binary digits per second for certain information sources is calculated.

CLICK HERE to order complete paper

 

Spring Break

Michigan Central

 

One MSU Professor Singlehandedly Started Spring Break

Hillsdale to Hilltop: The Story of Michigan Lass Kat Timpf

🐦Homophily Michigan 🐦

“You’d get married? Well, what about school?”

“Girls like me weren’t built to be education. We were made to have children. That’s my ambition: to be a walking talking baby factory”


"What are you afraid of losing, when nothing in the world actually belongs to you." -- Marcus Aurelius

Home Rule: Limits of Inspection Authority

“The Dressmaking Factory” 1914 | Charles Ginnar
@Tate

Building inspection authority refers to the governmental power granted to building officials and inspectors to enforce building codes, conduct site visits, review plans, issue permits, and ensure construction complies with safety, structural, zoning, and environmental standards.

Its significance lies primarily in protecting public safety by identifying hazards, preventing structural failures, fire risks, and health threats from substandard work. This authority mandates minimum quality levels, reducing risks of collapses, injuries, or fatalities—lessons reinforced by historical disasters.

It promotes accountability among designers, builders, and owners, ensuring durability, energy efficiency, and accessibility while supporting sustainable urban development. By halting non-compliant projects or requiring fixes, inspectors safeguard communities, preserve property values, and minimize long-term costs from repairs or liabilities.

Ultimately, this regulatory framework upholds trust in the built environment, balancing innovation with life-protecting oversight for residents, workers, and the public.

Here are the primary **ANSI-accredited standards developers that develop and publish model building codes, related consensus standards for construction safety, inspection, structural integrity, energy efficiency, plumbing, fire safety, and similar areas incorporated into or referenced into public law:

– **International Code Council (ICC)** — Develops the International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Fire Code (IFC), and other model codes widely adopted for building inspection and enforcement, plus ANSI-approved standards.
Link: https://www.iccsafe.org

– **National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)** — Publishes NFPA 1 (Fire Code), NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code), NFPA 5000 (Building Construction and Safety Code), and numerous fire safety/inspection standards referenced in building codes.
Link: https://www.nfpa.org

– **International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO)** — Develops the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) and Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC), key for plumbing/mechanical inspections.
Link: https://www.iapmo.org

– **ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers)** — Develops ANSI/ASHRAE standards like 90.1 (Energy Standard for Buildings) and others for HVAC, energy, and indoor air quality, often referenced in codes.
Link: https://www.ashrae.org

– **ASTM International** — Produces thousands of material, testing, and performance standards (e.g., for construction materials and inspection methods) referenced in building codes.
Link: https://www.astm.org

– **American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)** — Develops ASCE 7 (Minimum Design Loads), ASCE 24 (Flood Resistant Design), and structural/inspection-related standards.
Link: https://www.asce.org

Building inspection authority, while essential for safety, can be abused through corruption, such as inspectors accepting bribes to approve substandard work, overlook violations, expedite permits, or ignore stop-work orders. Examples include cases in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Honolulu, where inspectors took cash, gifts, or favors to falsify approvals or fast-track processes, enabling unsafe or non-compliant construction.This abuse distorts fair competition, favors corrupt developers or connected parties, and erodes public trust in regulatory systems.

More critically, it limits economic development by inflating costs (e.g., bribes add 10-30% to projects), causing delays from bureaucratic extortion or backlogs exploited for payoffs, deterring legitimate investment, and misallocating resources toward sub-optimal or risky builds.Corruption in permitting and inspections discourages foreign and domestic developers, slows urban growth, reduces infrastructure quality, and hampers long-term competitiveness. In booming markets, it exacerbates inefficiencies, diverts funds from productive uses, and ultimately stifles job creation and sustainable expansion.

 

 

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