Author Archives: mike@standardsmichigan.com

Loading
loading...

Emergency and Standby Power Systems

Sporty weather season in the United States inspires a revisit of best practice for designing, building and maintaining the systems that provide limited electricity when the primary source fails. We have been active in the development of this and related titles for decades and have presented several proposals to the technical committee. Public response on the Second Draft of the 2025 revision will be received until March 27, 2024.

Electrical building, World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago (1892)

FREE ACCESS to the 2022 Edition of NFPA 110 Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems

The scope of NFPA 110 and NFPA 111 are close coupled  and summarized below:

NFPA 110 Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems. This standard contains requirements covering the performance of emergency and standby power systems providing an alternate source of electrical power to loads in buildings and facilities in the event that the primary power source fails.

NFPA 111 Stored Electrical Energy for Emergency and Standby Power Systems. This standard shall cover performance requirements for stored electrical energy systems providing an alternate source of electrical power in buildings and facilities in the event that the normal electrical power source fails.

FIRST DRAFT AGENDA | August 2022

Public comment on the First Draft of the 2025 Edition will be received until May 31, 2023.  

We have advocated in this standard since 1996 and still use the original University of Michigan Workspace; though those workspaces must be upgraded to the new Google Sites during 2021.  We provide a link to the Standards Michigan Workspace and invite you to join any of our electrical colloquia which are hosted jointly with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee four times per month in European and American time zones.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [96-04]

Category: Electrical, Risk

Contact: Mike Anthony, Robert Arno, Neal Dowling, Jim Harvey, Robert Schuerger, Mike Hiler

More

ITM of Emergency Power Systems

Planning for Higher Education Journal: Revisiting the Campus Power Dilemma: A Case Study

Tom is a long-time colleague and friend so Mike happily posts his content:

454c656374726f746563686e6f6c6f6779

Quadrivium: Spring

“The Laws of Thought” 1851 George Boole

American National Standards Institute: Standards Action

International Electrotechnical Commission

International Organization for Standardization

International Telecommunication Union

 

More LIVE Campus Cameras

National Institute of Standards and Technology | News & Events

Facilities & Operations ~2010

2026 National Electrical Code Workspace

Spring Week 12 | March 18 – 24

Standards March: Water

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.

Cognitive Science: An Introduction to the Study of Mind

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.

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.

Department of Energy

Lorem ipsum

Federal Aviation Administration

Aviation Maintenance Technician Schools | Consultation closes April 14, 2023

Science & Technology Policy Office

Request for Information; NSPM 33 Research Security Programs Standard Requirement | Consultation closes June 5, 2023

 

North Dakota

We typically post one federal and one state level consultation or action every day for at least one of the 50-states — in the lower right corner of our home page when most education communities in the United States have begun a new work day.  Examples, irregularly linked:

U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security: Public consultation on US standards system rule (November 8)

2National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Post-Quantum Cryptography Practice Guide (June 8)

Public Consultation on Semiconductor Manufacturing (November 28)

NIST Awards Funding to 5 Universities to Advance Standards Education

NIST Center for Neutron Research: 2022 Outstanding Student Poster Presentation

Commerce Levels Playing Field to Support U.S. Stakeholder Participation in International Standards Setting Activities

NIST Report Outlines Strategic Opportunities for U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing

Occupational exposure and indoor environmental quality evaluation from operating multiple desktop 3D printers in an office environment within a library.

3ANSI ISO Business  (Many of these projects are normally covered during our Hello World! colloquia

ANSI April 2023 Public Policy Update

ANSI January Report 2023 on ISO, IEC & ITU Work Items

ISO Standardization Foresight Framework | Trend Report 2022

New ISO Subcommittee ISO/TC 197/SC 1 – Hydrogen at Scale and Horizontal Energy Systems

New ISO Subcommittee ISO/TC 67/SC 10 – Enhanced oil recovery

Update: Certification+Degree (C+D) pathways in information technology (IT) and health sciences.

2023 Student Paper Competition Theme: Standards Supporting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  Submissions due 2 June 2023

Standards Coordination Office | USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point 

USNC/IEC

Consultations (Some posted with IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee) | Direct access to primary workspace

4. Fast Forward  

Looking Ahead: 2024

5. Rewind

Retrodiction

Lights Out

6. Corrigenda


International Standardization Organization Week Date

 

Readings

Glossary: Education

The College Idea: Andrew Delbanco

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

January 2024 Highlights



Transmission Planning Using a Reliability Criterion

Readings / The Administrative State

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.

 


August 14, 2003


 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 Act of 1938

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:

Homeland Power Security

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.

S. 3739: Establish due process for the investigation of intercollegiate athletics


Laken Riley Act passes 251-170, with 37 Democrats joining all Republicans in support

The murder of Laken Riley occurred on February 22, 2024, in Athens, Georgia. Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University, disappeared when she was jogging at the University of Georgia (UGA). Her body was found near a lake of a wooded area at UGA; her death was caused by blunt force trauma.  The police described Riley’s killing as a “crime of opportunity”, and that no murder had been committed at UGA in almost 30 years; a gap filled by the open border policy of Democrat President Joseph Biden, Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and chain of Democrat District Attorney’s who let the perpetrator run free.

The murder has international news, generating extensive media attention — though not nearly as much as the George Floyd tragedy and the Black Lives Matter zietgeist — sparking debate over illegal immigration in United States after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Ibarra is a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who is not a U.S. citizen and was caught crossing the border but released back into the United States

Jose Antonio Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan citizen who entered the US illegally, was arrested by UGA police and has been charged with felony murder, false imprisonment, and kidnapping.[4] Ibarra lived about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the area where Riley’s body was found..

European political leaders are indifferent to the killing of their young women by migrant men also:


But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?  If men were angels, no government would be necessary.  If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.  In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this:  you must first enable the government to control control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”James Madison, Federalist 51

Relevant Federal Executive & Legislative Committees

House of Representatives: Committee on Education & the Workforce

Senate: Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions 

SCOTUS: West Virginia, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency

United States District Court, Michigan | Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School et al. v Ann Arbor School District Board


H.R. 305: One School, One Nurse Act of 2023

H.R. 6078: GROWTH Act of 2023

H.R. 3425: To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to authorize capacity building grants for community

H.R. 221: Expand Pell Grant eligibility to certain trade schools

H.R. 193: Teach Relevant Apprenticeships to Drive Economic Success Act

H.R. 202: States’ Education Reclamation Act

H.R. 302: Energy Cybersecurity University Leadership Act of 2023

The University Campus As A Designed Work and an Artefact of Cultural Heritage

Chicken Shepard’s Pie

NSF International (Ann Arbor, Michigan): Food Equipment Standards

This traditional Irish dish originated as a thrifty way to repurpose leftover meat. In the late 18th century, the concept evolved from using lamb or mutton, commonly tended by shepherds, hence the name. The dish typically comprises minced meat — lamb, beef or chicken — cooked with vegetables and gravy, topped with mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:
• 1 can chicken, drained
• ½ can canned sliced potatoes
• 2 tsp onion powder
• ½ cup canned peas, drained
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp butter
• Splash of milk
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Directions:
1. Heat potatoes in microwave safe bowl, ~2 mins. Mash the potatoes with the milk and butter, a Teaspoon each of salt, pepper, and garlic powder, stir well. Adjust seasoning. Set aside.
2. Add remaining ingredients, stir well.
3. Spoon the mashed potatoes evenly on top of the meat.
4. Cook covered in the microwave oven for 3-5 minutes on medium power.
5. Cut into 2 portions. Scoop out from the bottom to keep the layers intact.

More:

University of Michigan Recipe

New Mexico State University Recipe

University of Illinois Venison Recipe


This video has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. UCCS hereby disclaims any and all liability to any party for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of this video, which is provided as is, and without warranties.

 

Morning Shower

Complete Monograph: 2024 GROUP A PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE I-CODES

“The Bathing Pool” | Hubert Robert (1733–1808)

CLICK IMAGE to access complete text

 

Design Considerations for Hot Water Plumbing

Baseline Standards for Student Housing

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Indoor plumbing has a long history, but it became widely available in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the United States, for example, the first indoor plumbing system was installed in the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia in the early 18th century. However, it was not until the mid-19th century that indoor plumbing became more common in middle-class homes.

One important milestone was the development of cast iron pipes in the 19th century, which made it easier to transport water and waste throughout a building. The introduction of the flush toilet in the mid-19th century also played a significant role in making indoor plumbing more practical and sanitary.

By the early 20th century, indoor plumbing had become a standard feature in most middle-class homes in the United States and other developed countries. However, it was still not widely available in rural areas and poorer urban neighborhoods until much later.

International Plumbing Code

Form v. Function | Function v. Form

2024 Student Paper Competition

“A Girl Writing; The Pet Goldfinch” 1870 Henriette Browne

For nearly twenty years now,  the American National Standards Institute Committee on Education administers a student paper competition intended to encourage understanding of the global standards system that also provides a solid prize — in the $1000 to $5000 range.  The topic of the 2024 Student Paper Competition will be What Role Do or Could Standards Play in Safe and Effective Implementation of Artificial Intelligence Applications/Systems?

Student Paper Competition Flyer 2024 – Entries due 7 June 2024

For the past six years Standards Michigan has hosted Saturday morning workshops to help students (and faculty) interested in entering the contest.   We will soon post those dates on our CALENDER.  We typically host them — three sessions ahead of the deadline — on Saturday mornings.

We provide links to previous paper winners and refer you to Lisa Rajchel: lrajchel@ansi.org for all other details.

Related:

“Normal” Things Americans Do That The Rest Of The World Will Never Understand

2023 Student Paper Competition

2022 Student Paper Competition

2020 Student Paper Winner / Remanufacturing

2020 Student Paper Winner / Road Traffic Safety

ANSI 2019 Student Paper Winner: Cybersecurity & Ukraine Power Grid Attack

2019 Student Paper Winner / Standards in Crisis Prevention & Response:

2018 ANSI Student Paper Winner / Internet of Things

2017 ANSI Student Paper Winner / Cyborg Gen 2330

2016 Student Paper Winner | Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness

2016 Student Paper Winner / World Without Standards

United States Standards Strategy

Retrodiction

By design, we do not provide a SEARCH function. We are a niche practice in a subtle, time-sensitive domain with over 30 years of case history in which we have been first movers. We provide links to the most accessed topics in recent days. All queries presented during our “Open Office Hours” every work day, or via email, are gratefully received and prompt a near-immediate response.

Standards: Sunday

H.R. 7495: Empowering Learners through Competency-Based Education

Finian’s Rainbow

Stuffed Cabbage

Theater Safety

Entertainment Occupancies

The science of beer

C++

Fish and Chips and the British Working Class

The Best Student-Friendly Brownies

print(“Python”)

Michigan State University

Oxford College Student Center

Edge Case: Leap Year

Fireplace Lounges

Sacred Spaces

Laboratory Fume Hood Safety

Evensong “Melody in F”

University of Iowa | Johnson County

2023 National Electrical Safety Code

Friday End of Workweek Provocation: Chemistry of Beer

Национа́льный иссле́довательский То́мский госуда́рственный университе́т

Robie House

Electric Power Availability: Cold Weather Preparedness

Making Greenwich the centre of the world

Roger Scruton Memorial Lectures

Electrical heat tracing: international harmonization-now and in the future


Winter Vegetable Soup

Electrical heat tracing: international harmonization-now and in the future

Brankscom Hall Toronto

Fire Alarm & Signaling Code

Ice Swimming

Uniform Plumbing Code


Banished Words 2024

Ædificare


“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession

of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

 

 

Layout mode
Predefined Skins
Custom Colors
Choose your skin color
Patterns Background
Images Background
Skip to content