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Two Campuses, One Coffeehouse

ANN ARBOR WEATHER

The Great Good Place

https://standardsmichigan.com/136343-2/

Michigan Central | Michigan Central: Summer-Fall

The Drip House Coffee - Ann Arbor, MI | joe coffee

Ann Arbor Public Schools Physical Properties & Capital Programs

Ann Arbor Pioneer High Field Hockey | Washtenaw County Michigan

Coffee

https://www.stlawu.edu/dining-menu/dana-dining-center/2026-10-13?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Nourriture d’automne

“When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf…
leave it for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow…
When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean it afterward;
it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.”

University of Vermont | Chittenden County

Today we break down the catalog for food safety in education communities; with primary attention to consultations from private standard developing organizations and federal agencies charged with food safety.  We do so with sensitivity to animals and plants and sustainability of the global food supply chain.   Many schools are the communal cafeterias for the communities that own and operate them and run at commercial scale.

We prepare responses to public consultations released by standards developing organizations which, in many cases, have significant conformance enterprises.  Core titles are published by the ANSI accredited organizations listed below:

3-A Sanitary Standards

Catalog

ASHRAE International

The ASHRAE catalog is the most cross-cutting and fastest moving catalog in the land.   If you claim ownership of the United States energy domain you pretty much capture everything related campus safety and sustainability.  Best to deal with it on a day-by-day basis as we usually do according to daily topics shown on our CALENDAR.

Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

National Electrical Safety Code   (Our particular interest lies in the safety and reliability of off-campus agricultural and research facilities that receive power from regulated utilities)

Rural Electric Power Conference

Kitchen Safety and Security System for Children

TupperwareEarth: Bringing Intelligent User Assistance to the “Internet of Kitchen Things”

Designing an IoT based Kitchen Monitoring and Automation System for Gas and Fire Detection

Re-Inventing the Food Supply Chain with IoT: A Data-Driven Solution to Reduce Food Loss

International Code Council

Commercial Kitchens

International Building Code Assembly Group A-2

International Building Code Group U Section 312 Agricultural Buildings

International Building Code Moderate Hazard Factory Industrial Group F-1 (Food Processing)

Who Gets Rich From School Lunch

National Fire Protection Association

Kitchen Wiring

National Electrical Code Article 210 (Branch Circuits)

National Electrical Code Article 547 (Agricultural Buildings)

Standard for the Installation of Air-Conditioning and Ventilating Systems

Public Input Report for the 2024 Revision

Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations

Public Input Report for the 2024 Revision

NSF International

Food Equipment

Commercial Warewashing Equipment

Commercial Refrigerators and Freezers

Commercial Cooking, Rethermalization and Powered Hot Food Holding and Transport Equipment

Commercial Powered Food Preparation Equipment


US Federal Government:

US Department of Agriculture

Food & Drug Administration (HACCP)

Emotional Overfeeding:  Indulgent Feeding Style and Children’s Weight Status in Preschool

State Governments:

Lorem ipsum @StandardsState

Global:

International Organization for Standardization

International Electrotechnical Commission

Codex Alimentarius

Food safety and sustainability standards populate are of the largest domains we track so if we need a break0-out session, let’s do it.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment

Agenda / Farm & Table

More

Standards supporting vertical farming

STANDARDS SUPPORT SOPHISTICATED FARMING METHODS THAT BRING PRODUCE TO YOUR TABLE

US Food & Drug Administration: Food Facility Registration Statistics (as  of January 11, 2021)

National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry

The U.S. Land-Grant University System: An Overview

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Standards Development

The origin of the Land grant act of 1862 

International Electrotechnical Commission: Keeping food safe from farm to plate

 Codex Alimentarius

Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education: Dining Services Programs

Science and Our Food Supply: A Teacher’s Guide for High School Classrooms

Food Code 2022

Fine Arts 300

Public Input on the 2029 Edition will be received until January 6, 2027

Comments on the Second Draft of NFPA 909 — Cultural Resource Property Protection — will be received until 3 October 2024


“Wir haben Kunst, damit wir nicht

an der Wahrheit zugrunde gehen”

– Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Not every student is passionate about Graph Algorithms, Green Policy or coding the Internet of Things but wants to devote their energy and talent to making the world a better place by making the world a more beautiful place.  Spaces for the “creatives” among them are elevated risk spaces.   Today we examine the literature for designing, building and maintaining these occupancies in the safest and most sustainable way; among them the spaces for textile research and fashion design; usually co-mingled with drawing, painting, and textile creation space.

The garment industry is multi-disciplinary and is larger than the energy industry.  It contributes to the standard for civilization; even though subtly so.   For this reason, starting 2023, we will break down our coverage of the literature that supports the fashion industry from the fine arts domain in separate colloquia every quarter.

Fine Arts 200.   Exploration of best practice for spaces used for various forms of creative expression that are appreciated for their artistic or aesthetic value, often involving skills and techniques that require specialized training and expertise. 

    • Painting: The application of pigment to a surface, such as canvas or paper, to create images or visual compositions using techniques like oil, acrylic, watercolor, or tempera.
    • Sculpture: The creation of three-dimensional artworks by shaping and manipulating materials such as stone, wood, metal, or clay.
    • Drawing: The use of lines, marks, or other materials to create images or representations on paper, canvas, or other surfaces.
    • Printmaking: The creation of multiple copies of an image from a master plate or block, using techniques like engraving, etching, lithography, or screen printing.
    • Photography: The use of a camera to capture and create visual images, often through techniques such as exposure, composition, and processing.
    • Architecture: The design and construction of buildings and structures, involving artistic elements such as form, space, materials, and aesthetics.
    • Ceramics: The creation of pottery or ceramic objects using techniques like wheel throwing, hand-building, or glazing.
    • Mixed media: The combination of different artistic materials or techniques in a single artwork, such as collage, assemblage, or installations.
    • Conceptual art: The creation of artworks that prioritize ideas, concepts, and intellectual or philosophical aspects over traditional aesthetic or material considerations.

Fashion 300.  Best practice literature for the spaces needed for the creation of artworks using textiles and fibers, such as weaving, quilting, or embroidery.  Research and teaching spaces in this domain; at the foundation of the garment industry — one of the largest sectors in the economy in any nation — present surprising challenges

See our CALENDAR for a schedule of those session.

Fine Arts 200

US-based standards developers with a footprint in the fine arts domain:

ASTM International

Committee D13 on Textiles Celebrates a Century

International Code Council

2021 International Building Code: Section 305 Educational Group E

Underwriters Laboratories

Lorem ipsum (product testing: kiln heat specifications, fabric and paint flammability, wet and dry fire extinguishing systems, etc.)

National Fire Protection Association

Art, Design & Fashion Studios

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

Leveraging User-Provided Noisy Labels for Fashion Understanding

Fuzzy Logic in Personalized Garment Design

Institutional Guidelines

St. Louis Community College

Federal Regulations & Recommendations

Environmental Health and Safety in the Arts Guide for K-12 School, Colleges and Artisans

Global standard developers:  (partial list)

Eurocodes

Illumination Art

Textiles

Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act

Open to everyone.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

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.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Cricket Courtship Song and Female Mate Choice

Andrews University: Cricket Calling Songs

World Standards Day Congressional Briefing

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 9, 2026 | Bulletin Board

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

§

De La Salle College

https://standardsmichigan.com/136343-2/


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

Evergreen

 

Bulletin Board

Trump Account Proposed Regulations | October 20, 2026

University of Notre Dame: Teaching with the Columbus Murals

DOE — Bulk-Power System Security RFI | October 9

Massachusetts Fire Safety Advisory Meeting October 14

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

NIST RFI: Medical Metrology and Standards | November 30

FERC Cybersecurity Monitoring of Electric Infrastructure | Comments due December 14

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 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.

Elevators & Lifts

The first elevator in the United States was installed at Harvard University in 1874. It was not a passenger elevator as we typically think of today, but rather a freight elevator used to move heavy items within a building. The installation of this elevator marked an important development in building technology and transportation within multi-story structures. It was based on the design of Elisha Otis, who is famous for inventing the safety elevator with a safety brake system that prevents the elevator from falling if the hoisting cable fails. Otis’ innovation played a pivotal role in making elevators safe and practical for everyday use, leading to their widespread adoption in buildings around the world.

International Building Code Chapter 30: Elevators and Conveying Systems

Elevator design by the German engineer Konrad Kyeser (1405)

Education communities are stewards of 100’s of lifts, elevators and moving walks.  At the University of Michigan, there are the better part of 1000 of them; with 19 of them in Michigan Stadium alone.   The cost of building them — on the order of $50,000 to $150,000 per floor depending upon architectural styling — and the highly trained staff needed to operate, maintain and program interoperability software is another cost that requires attention.   All building design and construction disciplines — architectural, mechanical and electrical have a hand in making this technology safe and sustainabile.

We start with international and nationally developed best practice literature and work our way to state level adaptations.  Labor for this technology is heavily regulated.

Its a rarefied and crazy domain for the user-interest.  Expertise is passionate about safety and idiosyncratic but needs to be given the life safety hazard.  Today we review o pull together public consultation notices on relevant codes, standards and regulations today  11 AM/EDT.

Московский государственный университет имени

Elevators 500

More

NFPA 70 Article 620 Elevators, etc.

NEC Article 620 | David Herres

Elevator U

International Building Code Chapter 30: Elevators and Conveying Systems

Inside Higher Ed: Tragedy in an Elevator

Jimlielevators

University of Michigan Elevator Recall Control Wiring Schematic

University of Michigan Elevator Shaft Lighting Schematic

 

Methods of Building Measurement

BOMA International sets the standard for measuring buildings. In 1915, BOMA published its first office standard, Standard Method of Floor Measurement. Throughout the years, the standard has been revised to reflect the changing needs of the real estate market and the evolution of office building design.

BOMA International is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) secretariat for a suite of area measurement standards.

The BOMA catalog remains active, with recent revisions reflecting changes in building use, energy accounting and increasingly complicated mixed-use occupancies.

2024 Catalog

Government capital aid for schools is usually capped by classified building type and measured area. States sort facilities by grade band (elementary, middle, high school) and program (special education, CTE), then apply published gross-square-foot-per-student allowances.
.
Eligible size is typically gross area to the exterior walls; circulation, walls, and mechanical space are included via net-to-gross markups. Only that baseline is state-funded; extra square footage is a local cost. Misclassification or a different measurement method (net vs. gross, interior vs. exterior) changes the funded envelope and can cut or inflate aid.
.
Higher-education inventories often use FICM assignable-versus-gross rules for similar reporting and reimbursement.  K-12 inventories take into account stairs, voids, mechanical rooms, portables, and renovations.  So classification plus the chosen measurement method can change what is eligible for public money.

“The Ideal City” 1480 Giuliano da Sangallo

Inspired by Lord Kelvin’s “If you can not measure it, you can not improve it” and Peter Drucker’s adage “If you can’t measure it, You can’t improve it” and  W. Edwards Deming’s counter-argument — “It is wrong to suppose that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it – a costly myth.” we present the standards catalog of the Building Owner’s Management Association:

BOMA Standards

BOMA Area Measurement Standards Timeline 1915-2021

At the moment all titles in this catalog seem to be stabilized.  Largely because a sizeable portion of square footage in every school district, college, university and university-affiliated healthcare research and clinical delivery system derives at least part of its funding from governments at all levels there are workgroups devoted to measuring square footage and documenting its use.   For example:

Space Management: University of Oklahoma

Space Management: Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Space Management Policy: University at Buffalo

Getting square-footage right is essential for securing an organization’s sustainability and “green” claims for example.  The links in previous posts provide for information about future public consultations.

We maintain the BOMA catalog on the agenda of our Space Planning, Hammurabi and Architectural colloquia, hosted 6 to 8 times annually.   See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting, open to everyone.

€ 492 Million: Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien

Posted March 20,  2021

We drill into the specifics commonly found in education communities: sub-lease of space to private industry in publicly-owned facilities.  The Building Owners and Managers Association International is an ANSI-accredited consensus standard developer and revised its standard — BOMA Z65.5 Retail Properties: Standard Method of Measurement.  Measuring the area of a retail building can quickly become complex when variables must be considered such as ancillary space, mezzanines and storefront lease lines.  Many large research universities have long since leased space within many of their building envelopes for private industry to service their communities — student unions, hospitals, dormitories and athletic venues, for example.  From the project prospectus:

Z65.5 is intended exclusively for retail properties and their associated structures and may be applied to single-tenant, multi-tenant or multi-building configurations. It features a single method of measurement, with two levels of measurement data, known as Partial Measurement and Overall Measurement for retail properties. It does not measure sidewalks, surface parking, drainage structures, or  other ancillary site improvements.  This standard is chiefly designed to generate Gross Leasable Area figures, a key metric in retail leasing; however, it also produces area figures which may be of interest to those examining space utilization, valuation, benchmarking, and the allocation of building expenses to various cost centers. The scope of this standard is not intended to be submitted for consideration as an ISO, IEC, or ISO/IEC JTC-1 standard.

Public consultation is open until February 8th.  

You may obtain an electronic copy from: floorstandards@boma.org.   Send comments (with optional copy to psa@ansi.org) to: floorstandards@boma.org.  We encourage user-interest subject matter experts in education facility management to participate directly in the BOMA standards development process by communicating directly with Tanner Johnson at BOMA (tjohnston@boma.org) or 202-326-6357 for more information.

We keep the BOMA catalog on the standing agenda of our colloquia devoted to building construction best practice.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [14-117]

Category: Architectural, Facility Asset Management

Colleagues: Jack Janveja, Richard Robben

More

National Center for Education Statistics: Postsecondary Education Facilities Inventory and Classification Manual

Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education

Posted February, 20  2020

The Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA) is an ANSI-accredited consensus standard developer.  BOMA has initiated the process of revising its real property measurement standard —  BOMA Z65.2 For Industrial Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement.  The primary objectives of this standard are:

– To promote an unambiguous framework for determining the areas of Industrial Buildings with a strong focus on Rentable Area calculations;
– To facilitate transparency and clear communication of building measurement concepts among all participants in the commercial real estate
industry;
– To allow a comparison of values on the basis of a clearly understood and generally agreed upon method of measurement; and
– To align concepts and measurement methodologies with the International Property Measurement Standards: Industrial Buildings (January 2018)
document.

Comments due March 15th

Click here to view these changes in full (Page 2) 

Send comments (with optional copy to psa@ansi.org) to: tjohnston@boma.org

"The past is never dead. It's not even past" -- William Faulkner

Standards Michigan follows, but d0es not advocate in most of the BOMA standards suite for the following reasons:

  • Educational facility occupancies are fairly well accounted for in existing federal and state regulations
  • Advocacy in energy-related best practice titles are a better use of resources at the moment.

We encourage user-interest subject matter experts in education facility management to participate directly in the BOMA standards development process by communicating directly with Tanner Johnson at BOMA (tjohnston@boma.org) or 202-326-6357 for more information.

We maintain the entire BOMA suite on our periodic Model Building Code colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [15-200]

Category: Architectural, Space Plaaning, Facility Asset Management

Colleagues: Jack Janveja, Richard Robben

LEARN MORE:

Facilities Information Management

Guideline for Square Footage Requirements for Educational Facilities

Guide to School Site Analysis and Development

Mixed Use Standard

 

ARCHIVE / BOMA

5.18.20

Postsecondary Education Facilities Inventory & Classification Manual

The federal manual has gone approximately 20 years without a comprehensive revision.  Some settlements have gone ahead and made modifications of their own.  Today at 3:00 4:00 PM EDT the Campus FM Technology Association is hosting a “Water Cooler” discussion about organizing an update.  MORE

Western Michigan University maintains a locally updated FICM classification resource dated 2024.
WMU Facilities Management — FICM

Ohio Department of Higher Education maintains area classification codes adapted from the 2006 federal manual. Its documentation explicitly acknowledges differences between its classifications and the updated FICM definitions.
Ohio Higher Education — Area Type Codes

Washington State University continues to identify the 2006 FICM as its official campus space-classification reference.
Washington State University — FICM

Elevator Safety Code

Today, special attention to managing elevator passengers trapped in elevators during power outages.  Incident management involves the following:

  1. Automatic battery-lowering systems (standard in modern elevators) gently descend the car to the nearest floor and open the doors within minutes.
  2. Backup generators or UPS units keep lights, intercoms, and ventilation running.
  3. Mandatory two-way communication and remote monitoring allow instant contact with 24/7 response teams.
  4. Fire-service phase II keys and firefighter overrides ensure rapid rescue.
  5. Clear emergency instructions and regular maintenance of brakes and overspeed governors prevent falls.

These redundancies, required by ASME A17.1 codes in most jurisdictions, have made prolonged entrapments extremely rare and almost never dangerous.

2026 National Electrical Code Article 620: Elevators, Dumbwaiters, Escalators, Moving Walks, Platform Lifts, and Stairway Chairlifts.

CMP-12 Public Input Transcript | CMP-12 Public Comment Transcript

American School & University: Modernizing Elevator Emergency Communications on School and University Campuses

Elevator,  escalator  and moving walk systems are among the most complicated systems in any urban environment, no less so than on the  #WiseCampus in which many large research universities have 100 to 1000 elevators to safely and economically operate, service and continuously commission.  These systems are regulated heavily at state and local levels of government and have oversight from volunteers that are passionate about their work.

These “movement systems” are absorbed into the Internet of Things transformation.  Lately we have tried to keep pace with the expansion of requirements to include software integration professionals to coordinate the interoperability of elevators, lifts and escalators with building automation systems for fire safety, indoor air quality and disaster management.  Much of work requires understanding of the local adaptations of national building codes.

Some university elevator O&M units use a combination of in-house, manufacturer and standing order contractors to accomplish their safety and sustainability objectives.

In the United States the American Society of Mechanical Engineers is the dominant standards developer of elevator and escalator system best practice titles;  its breakdown of technical committees listed in the link below:

A17 ELEVATORS AND ESCALATORS

STDMi: Elevator Backup Power

C&S Connect: ASME Proposals Available for Public Review

Public consultation on a new standard for electrical inspector qualifications closes May 27th.

ASME A17.7/CSA B44.7 – 20XX, Performance-based code for elevators and escalators (280 pages)

Safety Code for Existing Elevators and Escalators

Guide for Inspection of Elevators, Escalators, and Moving Walks

Guide for Elevator Seismic Design

As always, we encourage facility managers, elevator shop personnel to participate directly in the ASME Codes & Standards development process.   For example, it would be relatively easy for our colleagues in the Phoenix, Arizona region to attend one or more of the technical committee meetings; ideally with operating data and a solid proposal for improving the A17 suite.

Get Involved ASME Standards & Certification Activities

University of Wisconsin Stadium Elevator

 

All ASME standards are on the agenda of our Mechanical, Pathway and Elevator & Lift colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next online teleconferences; open to everyone.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

 

Issue: [11-50]

Category: Electrical, Elevators, #WiseCampus

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

 

More:

Bibliography: Elevators, Lifts and Moving Walks

ISO/TC 178 Lifts, escalators and moving walks

Human Factors Using Elevators in Emergency Evacuation

Archive / Elevator Safety Code

 

 

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