(Night’s Rest) from the Times of Day series. (1889) Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) pic.twitter.com/FWv0zVmRqN
— Filipe Floyd (@FloydFilipe) September 12, 2023
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Watch & Night Operations
Church Facility Management
“The human soul longs for things higher, warmer, and purer
than those offered by today’s mass living habits.”
— Alexander Solzhenitsyn
History of Western Civilization Told Through the Acoustics of its Worship Spaces
Electrical Resource Adequacy
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation,
the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.”
— P.J. O’Rourke
FERC Home Ω Reaction: February 19 Open Meeting
US K-12 schools (public school districts) spend approximately $8 billion annually on energy costs, including electricity, which ranks as the second-largest operating expense after teacher salaries. This figure, cited by the U.S. Department of Energy and EPA, reflects nationwide totals, with much of it electricity-related due to lighting, HVAC, and other needs; efficiency improvements could save 10-30%.
For colleges and universities, specific nationwide electricity or total energy cost aggregates are less uniformly reported in recent sources, but higher education institutions face substantial utility bills—often over $100,000 per large building annually—with campuses consuming significant power for 24/7 operations, research labs, and facilities.
US healthcare systems, particularly hospitals, incur high electricity costs due to continuous operation and intensive equipment use. Individual hospitals often pay $600,000 to over $2 million yearly on electricity alone, with average energy costs around $3-4 per square foot; inpatient facilities consume nearly twice the electricity per square foot of average commercial buildings.These sectors represent major institutional energy consumers, where efficiency upgrades yield significant savings.
2018 CBECS: Principal Building Activities: Health Care
Average Hospital Electric Bill: How to Uncover Savings
Update: November 4, 2025
“Federal Power Act” | June 10, 1920, Chapter 285 of the 66th Congress]
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is an independent agency within the U.S. federal government that regulates interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. It oversees wholesale energy markets, pipeline infrastructure, and hydroelectric projects, ensuring fair rates and reliability. While independent, FERC operates under the Department of Energy’s umbrella but does not take direct orders from the executive branch.
FERC enforces energy laws, approves infrastructure projects, and regulates market competition. FERC plays a crucial role in balancing economic, environmental, and energy security concerns, aiming to maintain a stable and efficient energy system across the United States. Since the U.S. shares interconnected electricity grids with Canada and Mexico, FERC’s decisions on transmission rules and pricing affect energy flows and grid reliability in both countries.
Our interest lies in closing a technical gap that exists upstream from the building service point and downstream from the utility supply point. Some, not all of it, can be accomplished with titles in the IEEE catalog.
Given the dominance of vertical incumbents in the electric power domain, we have submitted a tranche of reliability concepts into the ASHRAE, NFPA and ICC catalogs — not so much with the expectation that they will be gratefully received — but that our proposals will unleash competitive energies among developers of voluntary consensus standards.
One of our proposals was heard at the April-May and October meetings of the International Code Council. We are happy to discuss the outcome of that proposal any day at the usual hour.
Commissioner-Led Reliability Technical Conference Agenda: October 16, 2024, 10:00 AM
Nothing happened in August
Technical Conference RE: Large Loads Co-Located at Generating Facilities: November 1, 10AM EDT
Echo Chamber Synonyms: mutual admiration society, self congratulatory club,
back patting session, congratulatory loop, closed loop of praise, reciprocal praise fest,
feedback bubble, endless validation cycle, compliment carousel.
Transmission Planning Using a Reliability Criterion
In power system engineering, availability and reliability are two important concepts, but they refer to different aspects of the system’s performance.
Reliability:
- Reliability refers to the ability of a power system to perform its intended function without failure for a specified period under given operating conditions. It is essentially a measure of how dependable the system is.
- Reliability metrics often include indices such as the frequency and duration of outages, failure rates, mean time between failures (MTBF), and similar measures.
- Reliability analysis focuses on identifying potential failure modes, predicting failure probabilities, and implementing measures to mitigate risks and improve system resilience.Availability:
- Availability, on the other hand, refers to the proportion of time that a power system is operational and able to deliver power when needed, considering both scheduled and unscheduled downtime.
- Availability is influenced by factors such as maintenance schedules, repair times, and system design redundancies.
- Availability is typically expressed as a percentage and can be calculated using the ratio of the uptime to the total time (uptime plus downtime).
- Availability analysis aims to maximize the operational readiness of the system by minimizing downtime and optimizing maintenance strategies.
Reliability focuses on the likelihood of failure and the ability of the system to sustain operations over time, while availability concerns the actual uptime and downtime of the system, reflecting its readiness to deliver power when required. Both concepts are crucial for assessing and improving the performance of power systems, but they address different aspects of system behavior.
November 2023 Highlights | FERC insight | Volume 10
Determining System and Subsystem Availability Requirements: Resource Planning and Evaluation
Comment: These 1-hour sessions tend to be administrative in substance, meeting the minimum requirements of the Sunshine Act. This meeting was no exception. Access to the substance of the docket is linked here.
Noteworthy: Research into the natural gas supply following Winter Storm Elliot.
December 2022 Winter Storm Elliott Grid Operations: Key Findings and Recommendations (Joint Inquiry)
UPDATED POLICIES ON U.S. DECARBONIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSITIONS
June 15:FERC Finalizes Plans to Boost Grid Reliability in Extreme Weather Conditions
On Monday June 13th, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission commissioners informed the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that the “environmental justice” agenda prohibits reliable dispatchable electric power needed for national power security. One megawatt of natural gas generation does not equal one megawatt of renewable generation. The minority party on the committee — the oldest standing legislative committee in the House of Representatives (established 1795) — appears indifferent to the reliability consequences of its policy.
Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission
“Our nation’s continued energy transition requires the efficient development of new transmission infrastructure. Federal and state regulators must address numerous transmission-related issues, including how to plan and pay for new transmission infrastructure and how to navigate shared federal-state regulatory authority and processes. As a result, the time is ripe for greater federal-state coordination and cooperation.”
Bibliography:
Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978
Glossary of Terms Used in NERC Reliability Standards
The Major Questions Doctrine and Transmission Planning Reform
As utilities spend billions on transmission, support builds for independent monitoring
States press FERC for independent monitors on transmission planning, spending as Southern Co. balks
Related:
At the July 20th meeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Tristan Kessler explained the technical basis for a Draft Final Rule for Improvements to Generator Interconnection Procedures and Agreements, On August 16th the Commission posted a video reflecting changes in national energy policy since August 14, 2003; the largest blackout in American history.
Public Art Program
More
Texas Education Agency: Fine Arts Standards
Texas Tech: Facilities Planning & Construction
“Public art is form of street life, a means to articulate the implicit values of a city when its users occupy the place of determining what the city is.” — Malcolm Miles
Reflections / John Nash
“Non-Cooperative Games” 1951 | John Nash
Brian Keating: Cosmology, Astrophysics, Aliens & Losing the Nobel Prize
John Nash’s Recommendation Letter for Princeton University pic.twitter.com/k9TCftyfGs
— Math Files (@Math_files) January 16, 2026
Charlie Kirk (August 12, 2025): “Has U.S. President Donald Trump gone too far?”
The Oxford Union Society is the world’s most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. Since 1823, the Union has been promoting debate and discussion not just in Oxford University, but across the globe.
My remarks at Oxford Union formal debate.
Has Trump gone too far?
The UK is lost, but it can find its way back if it follows America’s lead. pic.twitter.com/BjajLSRXOK
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 12, 2025
Vedika Rastogi | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 1/8 | Oxford Union
Alex Jackson | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 2/8 | Oxford Union
Toby Young | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 3/8 | Oxford Union
Yasmin Benoit | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 4/8 | Oxford Union
Tommy Nguyen | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 5/8 | Oxford Union
James Lindsay | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 6/8 | Oxford Union
Benjamin Butterworth | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 8/8 | Oxford Union
Working Dogs
Hey lovelies ☕🥰🍂
I hope this post finds you well & that you have a wonderful day! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ljULxGtS70
— Jess Tungsten (@JessTungsten) November 15, 2025
Gallery: Other Ways of Knowing Climate Change
“The test of a good religion is whether you can joke about it”
G.K. Chesterton | ‘All Things Considered’ 1908
Life-cycle cost of education community settings are informed by climate change assumptions. In addition to the flow of research money to faculty for laboratory space, graduate student support, supercomputer installations, conference travel; these assumptions inform the architectural character of a campus — i.e. the design and operation its buildings and infrastructure. These assumptions swing back and forth over these eternal institutions with cyclical assumptions about global cooling and global warming. In the late 1960’s academic researchers found evidence of global cooling. Fifty years on academic researchers assume the earth is warming. We just roll with it as we do with all the other policy “givens” we accommodate. Stewardship of the planet — keeping it clean for those who follow us — Yes. Catastrophilia — the love of catastrophone so well documented in history — not so much.
As with all emotional issues, language changes mightily. We refer you to our journey through technical standard language HERE.
According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, federal funding for climate research and related activities totaled approximately $13.8 billion in fiscal year 2020. This funding was distributed across various agencies and programs, including the National Science Foundation’s Climate and Large-Scale Dynamics program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s climate Program Office, and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
Not included in this figure is the opportunity cost and loss of brand identity of not conforming to the climate change agenda.
The “Narrative”
Solar Panels on King’s College Chapel Roof
“…The solar panels will populate the gothic chapel roof, producing an approximate 105,000 kWh of energy a year – enough to run the chapel’s electricity, and saving around £20,000 in energy bills per year. The college confirmed that any excess energy would be sold off to the national grid.
Solar Panels on King’s College Chapel Roof
Solar panels perform better when listening to music:
A 2013 study by researchers at Imperial College London and Queen Mary University of London showed that solar panels actually work better when exposed to music, of multiple genres. Scientists at the university proved that when exposed to high pitched sounds, like those found in rock and pop music, the solar cells’ power output increased by up to 40 percent. Classical music was also found to increase the solar cells’ energy production, but slightly less so than rock and pop, as it generally plays at a lower pitch than pop and rock. Whether they know it or not, British band Coldplay are just one of the artists benefitting from this research. During their 2021 tour, they installed solar photovoltaic panels in the build-up to each show, “behind the stage, around the stadium and where possible in the outer concourses”…
BS 7671 Requirements for Electrical Installations
The Major Differences in Electrical Standards Between the U.S. and Europe
Representative Calculation: (WAG)
To determine how much electrical power and lighting 12 kilowatts (kW) will provide for an educational facility, we need to consider the following factors:
-
- Power Distribution: How the 12 kW will be distributed across different electrical needs such as lighting, computers, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), and other equipment.
- Lighting Requirements: The specific lighting requirements per square foot or room, which can vary based on the type of facility (classrooms, libraries, laboratories, etc.).
- Efficiency of Lighting: The type of lighting used (e.g., LED, fluorescent, incandescent) as this affects the power consumption and lighting output.
We start with lighting.
-
- Lighting Efficiency:
- LED lights are highly efficient, typically around 100 lumens per watt.
- Fluorescent lights are less efficient, around 60-70 lumens per watt.
- Lighting Power Calculation:
- 12 kW (12,000 watts) of LED lighting at 100 lumens per watt would provide: 12,000 watts×100 lumens/watt=1,200,000 lumens
- Illumination Requirements:
- Classroom: Approximately 300-500 lux (lumens per square meter).
- Library or laboratory: Approximately 500-750 lux.
- Area Coverage:
- If we target 500 lux (which is 500 lumens per square meter), we can calculate the area covered by the lighting: (1,200,000 lumens)/ 500 lux=2,400 square meters
- Lighting Efficiency:
Now we need to allocate power to other loads.
-
- Lighting: Assuming 50% of the 12 kW goes to lighting:
- Lighting Power: 6 kW (6,000 watts)
- Using the previous calculation: 6,000 watts×100 lumens/watt=600,000 lumens
- Area Coverage for lighting (at 500 lux): (600,000 lumens)/500 lux=1,200 square meters
- Other Electrical Needs:
- Computers and equipment: Typically, a computer lab might use around 100 watts per computer.
- HVAC: This can vary widely, but let’s assume 4 kW is allocated for HVAC and other systems.
- Lighting: Assuming 50% of the 12 kW goes to lighting:
Breakdown:
-
- Lighting: 6 kW
- Computers/Equipment: 2 kW (e.g., 20 computers at 100 watts each)
- HVAC and other systems: 4 kW
Summary
-
- Lighting: 12 kW can provide efficient LED lighting for approximately 1,200 square meters at 500 lux.
- General Use: When distributed, 12 kW can cover lighting, a computer lab with 20 computers, and basic HVAC needs for a small to medium-sized educational facility.
The exact capacity will vary based on specific facility needs and equipment efficiency.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwB pic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
— USPTO (@uspto) July 13, 2023
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