Author Archives: mike@standardsmichigan.com

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Illumination 400

IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee

NEC Section 226.6 Conductor Size and Support (B) Festoon Lighting

EC&M Article 225: Outside Branch Circuits

Electrical Time: Definition of Festoon Lighting

“Starry Night Over the Rhône” 1888 Vincent van Gogh


Today we refresh our understanding of the moment in illumination technologies for outdoor lighting systems— related but different from our exploration of building interior illumination systems in Illumination 200.  Later in 2024 we will roll out Illumination 400 (Holiday illumination) and Illumination 500 which explores litigation related to public illumination technology.  As cities-within-cities the shared perimeter of a campus with the host municipality has proven rich in legal controversy and action.

Illumination technology was the original inspiration for the electric utility industry; providing night-time security and transforming every sector of every economy on earth.  Lighting load remains the largest component of any building’s electric load — about 35 percent– making it a large target for energy regulations.

Our inquiry begins with selections from the following documents…

International Electrotechnical Commission TC 34 Lighting

IEC 60364 Electrical Installations in Buildings

2023 National Electrical Safety Code

IEEE P3001.9 – Recommended Practice for the Design of Power Systems Supplying Lighting Systems in Commercial and Industrial Facilities

Institution of Engineering and Technology: Recommendations for Energy-efficient Exterior Lighting Systems

2023 National Electrical Code: Article 410  (While the bulk of the NEC concerns indoor wiring fire hazards, there are passages that inform outdoor lighting wiring safety)

2019 ASHRAE 90.1: Chapter 9 Lighting

Illumination Engineering Society: Various titles

ISO/TC 274 Light and lighting

Salt Water River Project: Outdoor Lighting Standards

US DOE-EERE Building Energy Codes Program

…and about 20 other accredited, consortia or ad hoc standards developers and publishers aligned principally with vertical incumbents.  Illumination was the original inspiration (i.e. the first “killer app”) for the electrical power industry in every nation.  Its best practice literature reflects a fast-moving, shape-changing domain.

Click in today with the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Upper Wharfedale Primary Federation School District Yorkshire Dales

McGill University: Before electricity, streets were filled with gas lights

Outdoor lighting systems can be owned and maintained by different entities depending on the context and location. Here are some examples of ownership regimes for outdoor lighting systems:

  1. Public ownership: In this case, outdoor lighting systems are owned and maintained by the local government or municipal authority. The lighting may be installed in public spaces such as parks, streets, and other outdoor areas for the safety and convenience of the public.
  2. Private ownership: Outdoor lighting systems may be owned by private individuals or organizations. For example, a business owner may install outdoor lighting for security or aesthetic reasons, or a homeowner may install outdoor lighting in their garden or yard.
  3. Co-owned: Outdoor lighting systems may be owned jointly by multiple entities. For example, a residential community may jointly own and maintain outdoor lighting in their shared spaces such as parking areas, community parks, or recreational facilities.
  4. Utility ownership: Outdoor lighting systems may be owned and maintained by utility companies such as electric or energy companies. These companies may install and maintain street lights or other lighting systems for the public good.
  5. Third-party ownership: In some cases, a third-party entity may own and maintain outdoor lighting systems on behalf of a public or private entity. For example, a lighting contractor may install and maintain lighting in a public park on behalf of a local government.

The ownership regime of an outdoor lighting system can have implications for issues such as installation, maintenance, and cost-sharing. It is important to consider ownership when designing and implementing outdoor lighting systems to ensure their long-term effectiveness and sustainability.

More

International Commission on Illumination

National Electrical Manufacturers Association

National Electrical Contractors Association

Representative Specifications

Sam Houston State University | Division 26500 Interior and Exterior Lighting

University of Delaware | Division 265100 Interior Lighting

Cal Poly University San Luis Obispo | Division 265100 Interior Lighting

Relevant Research

Enhancing the Sustainability of Outdoor Floodlighting for Cultural Heritage Buildings

The Performance and Impact of LED Floodlights in an Outdoor Electrical Substation During Misty Weather Conditions

Replacement of HPS Luminaires with LED Luminaires for the Lighting Requirements of an Outdoor Electrical Substation

 

Education, Health & Sport Essential Works

Abstract: A new committee* under the Industrial and Commercial Power Systems (I&CPS) Department of the Industry Applications Society (IAS) received approval at the October 2014 IAS Annual Meeting, in Vancouver. This committee will be dedicated to the special needs and characteristics of the Educational and Healthcare segments of the US and World economies. For example, these two segments of the US economy, alone, annually spend $60 billion on electrical and telecommunication systems; yet, these two segments are either underrepresented, or not represented at all, in most electrical engineering forums, code writing, and/or standards writing institutions. (May 2015)

A few of the University’s Electrical Engineers

APERÇU
Education, Health & Sport Essential Works

The change from IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee
to IEEE Education, Health & Sport Essential Works Committee
is more than a change of label. It better describes the territory.

“Facilities” directs attention toward buildings. Our work has never stopped at
the building envelope. Universities, schools, hospitals and athletic enterprises
depend upon networks of electrical power, communications, water, transportation,
energy storage, emergency systems and digital infrastructure extending across
campuses and into the surrounding public utility fabric.

Facilities describes the containers;
Essential Works describes the systems that make them work.

Essential Works is therefore the larger and more accurate idea.
It directs attention toward the infrastructure necessary for an educational
settlement to function continuously, safely and economically.

Replacing Healthcare with Health broadens the
field as well. Health encompasses hospitals and clinical facilities but also
research laboratories, public health, student health, rehabilitation, wellness
and the increasingly interconnected medical and research systems found on
university campuses.

Adding Sport recognizes another substantial class of infrastructure.
Stadiums, arenas, natatoria, field houses and outdoor athletic complexes present
demanding problems of illumination, power quality, emergency power, broadcasting,
communications, crowd safety, refrigeration and increasingly sophisticated
digital systems.

The three words — Education, Health & Sport — describe enduring
human activities. Essential Works describes the technical systems
that sustain them.

That is closer to what the committee actually does: not merely standards for
facilities, but engineering for the complex settlements in which people
learn, heal, compete and live.

 

Quadrivium: Autumn

We are in process of curating this post — which appears every day — thus its spareness.  Much of the content — dating back five years — will be archived.  We will roll out updates over the next few weeks.

As always, we are on line every day at 11 AM Eastern time for videoconferencing or telephone calls.


Pennsylvania State University | Acorn Research

Amazon (October 2): No more NDA’s and $1B into data center communities

October 1: University of Michigan × Los Alamos Research Computing Center “Town Hall”

ANSI Standards Action October 2, 2026 | Bulletin Board

 “All things on earth point home in old October”
Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River

§

Charlevoix Middle High School | Charlevoix County Michigan

Evergreen


https://standardsmichigan.com/music-almanac-of-the-western-tradition-autumn/

Bulletin Board

NIST RFI: Medical Metrology and Standards | November 30

RFI: Electromagnetic Fields, Radiofrequency Radiation & Wireless Radiation Exposure | October 21

DOE — Bulk-Power System Security RFI | October 9

NIST SP 800-239 — AI Data Center Security Analysis | September 25

Public consultation on NERC computational-load standard open until September 18

NIST SP 800-209 Rev. 1 — Security Guidelines for Storage Infrastructure | September 8

NFPA 70 | TIA from AHRI on GFCI protection on HVAC equipment | September 6


“Labor omnia vicit improbus” (trans. ‘Steady, unyielding labor conquered all things’)

Georgics, Book I — Publius Vergilius Maro

Standards exist to sustain the ordinary rhythms of civilization.  Behind every meal, classroom, laboratory, concert, hospital, farm, playing field and family home stands a network of standards that quietly enables daily life. Our work is to understand, improve and explain those standards in service to the educational settlements they support. ANSI Standards Action



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.

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

​​

Data Centers and Grid Impacts for State Regulators – 2026

IEEE P4200: Data Center Interconnection (Active PAR June 4, 2026)

MPSC Case U-21990 In the Matter of the Application of DTE Electric Company for Approval of Special Contracts

Restore NESC Cross-Reference to the Front End of the NEC

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

NEC & NESC Crosswalk

Ω


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 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

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.

Cheesy Hamburger Skillet

Michigan Central

C

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

MSU’s Extension’s Beef Production program supports Michigan’s beef industry through research, education, and outreach to enhance producer profitability, sustainability, and quality of life. It focuses on key areas like nutrition, genetics, grazing management, health, reproduction, and economics. Notable efforts include advancing grass-fed beef systems, feedlot management, and beef x dairy crossbreeding.

Conducted at facilities such as the Lake City and Upper Peninsula Research Farms, the program offers workshops, resources (e.g., pricing tools, disease prevention guides), and youth education via 4-H market beef projects and family recipes.

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