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INSTALLING AND MAINTAINING HEAT TRACING SYSTEMS

“Street in Røros in Winter” | Harald Sohlberg (1903)

The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) develops a suite of consensus standards titled National Electrical Installation Standards (NEIS) that meet the intent of the National Electrical Code (NEC); particularly where the NEC asserts that an installation be constructed in a “neat and workmanlike manner”.   As anyone who has had to reckon with the subjectivity of the local electrical inspector knows, the determination of “neat and workmanlike” can be mighty subjective.   The NECA documents are used by construction owners, specifiers, contractors and electricians to clearly illustrate the performance and workmanship standards essential for different types of electrical construction.  Because the NEC is intended to be primarily a wiring safety standard, the NEIS suite is referenced throughout the National Electrical Code.  Electrical shop foremen and front line electricians take note.

One of the NECA products that may be of interest to facility managers and risk management units in the education industry is NECA 202-2013 Standard for Installing and Maintaining Industrial Heat Tracing Systems.  This standard describes procedures for the installation, testing, and documentation of electrical freeze protection and process heat tracing systems. Heat tracing cable types covered by this publication include: self-regulating, constant wattage, and zone heating cables and mineral insulated heating cables. 2 is approved as an American National Standard.   The 2013 edition is the current edition and will likely need revisiting/revision/reaffirmation as an American national standard soon.

The technical literature that keeps pipes breaking and roofs failing is complicated space. A common conundrum in the construction industry is which discipline (architectural, mechanical or electrical) should specify application of this technology; especially in value-engineering negotiations when each discipline is trying to reduce its unit costs. Control and communication system add another layer of complexity.  Several consensus standards occupy this technology; cross referencing one another and leaving gaps

ASCE 7-10 Snow Load Provisions

IEEE 515 Standard for the Testing, Design, Installation, and Maintenance of Electrical Resistance Trace Heating for Industrial Applications

UL 515 Standard for Electrical Resistance Trace Heating for Commercial Applications

IEC 62395 Electrical resistance trace heating systems for industrial and commercial applications

National Electrical Code Article 427

There are codes and standards developed by ASTM International, the International Code Council and ASHRAE International that set the standard of care for pipe insulation for energy conservation purposes but we will deal with the interdependence of standard of care set by those documents in a separate post.   Organizations such as FM Global typically derive their customer recommendations from consensus standards developers.

You may obtain an electronic copy of this standard from neis@necanet.org.  You may communicate directly with Aga Golriz, (301) 215-4549, Aga.golriz@necanet.org.   Participation by the public is welcomed and begins at the page linked below:

NECA Standards and Publication Development Home Page

Our door is open every day at 11 AM for consultation on this and other standards.   Because heat tracing is a cross-disciplinary technology we place it on the agenda of our monthly Facility Management teleconference which is indicated on our CALENDAR.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

 

Issue: [19-24]

Category: Architectural, Electrical, Facility Management, Mechanical, Risk Management,

Colleagues: Eric Albert, Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

 

LEARN MORE:

RESEARCHGATE: HEAT-TRACING OF PIPING SYSTEMS TYPES OF HEAT-TRACING SYSTEMS

With some 36 million square feet under management — and one of the largest campuses in the United States exposed to extreme low temperatures — building industry professionals at the University of Michigan have some experience managing the competing requirements of safety and economy in heat tracing technology.

Snow Removal Standards

“Snow at Argenteuil” | Claude Monet (1875)

We have been following the only accredited American national standard for snow removal in the United States developed by the Accredited Snow Contractors Association (ASCA).  With winter hard upon us campus facility managers would be well served to review the ANSI accredited ASCA standards suite.  Even when only partially adopted, use of ANSI accredited standards reduces the “wheel reinvention” that is common to the business side of the education industry when new initiatives, or continuous improvement programs are undertaken without consideration of already existing leading practice discovery by ANSI-accredited technical committees.

In 2014, ASCA released their American national standard ANSI/ASCA A1000-2014: System Requirements for Snow and Ice Management Services, is intended to be implemented and applied (on a voluntary basis) in conjunction with ISO 9001 with respect to the processes of providing snow and ice management services.  The standard notes the following best practices for snow placement:

  • If snow can be removed from a lot or hard surface and appropriate room exists, always push the snow as far back as possible beyond the curb or lot edge to make room for additional snow.
  • If snow cannot be removed from a lot or hard surface, always place snow piles on a predetermined spot approved by the client and marked on the snow contractor’s preseason site report.  
  • Do not pile snow in a handicap parking space.
  • Do not bury or plow snow onto a fire hydrant, post indicator valve, or fire hookup along the building wall.
  • Avoid placement of snow piles where thaw/melt off can run across the parking lot surface. Try to place piles near drain grates to avoid icy situations during thaw-and-refreeze periods.
  • Do not push snow against a building.
  • Do not block building doorways or emergency exits.
  • Do not block pedestrian walks or paths with snow piles.
  • Do not push snow onto motor vehicles.
  • Do not plow snow in front of or bury trash containers. Sidewalk labor must shovel inside trash container enclosure for access to the doors. If the container is not in an enclosure, create a clear path to the access doors or panels.

In addition to the ASCA/ANSI standards, if colleges and universities are dealing with space issues as a result of the quantity of snowfall this upcoming season, the removal and relocation of the snow from the site may need to be considered. How will you approach snow placement this winter?  With the record snowfall in the U.S. in the past two years, what best practices have you established for your snow removal teams?  These answers, and other perspective, covered in the link below:

This standard is scheduled for another 5-year revisit in 2019.  We will keep you informed.  Alternatively, you may communicate directly with ASCA, 5811 Canal Road  Valley View, OH 44125, Ph: (800) 456-0707.

ASCA Standards Home Page

Issue: [13-104]

Category:  Landscaping & Exterior, Public Safety

Colleagues: John Lawter, Richard Robben

Relevant Trade Associations: URMIA, APPA, CSHEMA, OPEI

LEARN MORE:

https://www.snowmagazineonline.com/article/anatomy-of-a-slip-and-fall/anatomy-of-a-slip-and-fall/

Prevention of Slips, Trips and Falls

“Winterlandschaft” | Aert van der Neer (1655)

The mission of the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) is to aid in the prevention of slips, trips-and-falls through education, research, and standards development.  NFSI provides a wide range of services including independent product testing and certification, educational training, and standards development.  Through the American National Standards institute NFSI has announced the initiation of a new standards project:

BSR/NFSI B101.6-201x, Standard Guide for Commercial Entrance Matting in Reducing Slips, Trips and Falls (new standard)

Project Need: This standard is directed to reducing slip, trip, and fall hazards related to soil, moisture, and/or other contaminant’s conditions.

Stakeholders: General public, consumers, leisure/recreational, commercial, mercantile, household and manufacturers.   This standard provides the criteria for the selection, installation, inspection, care, and maintenance of entrance mats and runners in commercial facilities in reducing slips, trips, and falls.

NFSI invites public participation at the link below:

NFSI Standards Landing Page

(Note that NFSI has a facility on this page for you to report a slip or fall)

At this point the announcement of the launch of a new standards project by NFSI is procedural — conforming to ANSI’s due process requirements which is essentially the “Constitution” for privately developed consensus technical and business standards in the United States.  No public review drafts are ready for comment (but they soon will be).   Stakeholders interested in participating may communicate directly with Russell Kendzior at NFSI, P.O. Box 92607, Southlake, TX 76092, (817) 749-1700, russk@nfsi.org.

Brigham Young University

There are several accredited standards developers in this space.  We track all operations and maintenance standards for the education industry and are happy to discuss them any day at 11 AM Eastern time.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page CLICK HERE to log in.

Issue: [18-193]

Category: Risk Management, Facility Asset Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, John Lawter, Richard Robben

Link to ANSI Standards Action Announcement | PDF Page 16

LEARN MORE:  Some perspective from other standards developers of related operation and maintenance standards:

Snow Removal Standards

Shelton State Community College

National Electrical Safety Code

“Malakoff” | Henri Rousseau (1898)

Recent disasters in the United States in late 2018 inspires a revisit of the standard to which regulated utilities build the overhead and underground power and telecommunication wiring for the communities they serve. We collaborate closely with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee (IEEE E&H) to raise the standard of care for power security on the emergent #SmartCampus since many campus power systems are larger than publicly regulated utilities.  Even when they are smaller, the guidance in building the premise wiring system — whether the premise is within a building, outside the building (in which the entire geography of the campus footprint is the premise), is inspired by IEEE Standards Association administrated technical committtees.

Another IEEE consensus document — IEEE 1366 Guide for Electrical Power Distribution Reliability Indices — is also used  by state utility commissions for setting reliability  benchmarks.  The IEEE E&H Committee tracks campus power outages as a research project.  

Several proposals recommending improvements to the 2017 National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) were submitted to the IEEE subcommittees drafting the 2022 revision of the NESC.   They are fairly technical and subtle in their implications for the advancement of safety and sustainability in campus power distribution systems.   Some of the proposals deal with coordination with the National Electrical Code — which is now deep in 2020 revision cycle

Keep in mind that that NESC is revised every 5 years at the moment.  The next steps in the 2022 NESC development will span across most of the next 12 months as the various subcommittees meet a prepare written response to public input and release those responses no later than July 1, 2019.  The complete schedule is linked below:

IEEE C2 National Electrical Safety Code 2022 Revision Schedule

Comments are due March 1, 2020. 

The subcommittee that coordinates standards action between the IEEE and NFPA suite of technical standards — IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 18 — will also be hosting worksessions in the coming months.   While those work sessions are generally closed to the public, some of the concepts will be open for discussion during any of the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities (IEEE E&H) online committee meetings which meets 4 times monthly in Europe and the Americas.  The next online meeting is shown on the top menu of the IEEE E&H website:

IEEE E&H Committee

Business unit leaders, facility managers and electrical engineers working in the education facilities industry may be interested in the campus power system reliability database.   Forced outages in on large research campuses, for example, can have enterprise interruption cost of $100,000 to $1,000,000 per minute.    The database discriminates between forced outages attributed to public utility interruptions and forced outages attributed to the university-owned power system.   The E&H committee will convey some of the discipline applied by the IEEE 1366 technical committee into its study of campus power systems; many of which are larger than publicly owned or cooperative utilities.

 

Issue: [16-67]

Contact: Mike Anthony, Robert G. Arno, Lorne Clark, Nehad El-Sharif, Jim Harvey, Kane Howard, Joe Weber, Guiseppe Parise, Jim Murphy

Category: Electrical, Energy Conservation & Management, Occupational Safety

LEARN MORE:

P1366 – Guide for Electric Power Distribution Reliability Indices 

 

Posted July 12

With the balloting of the First Draft of the 2020 National Electrical Code (the NEC, a consensus document developed by the National Fire Protection Association) now completed, we turn our attention to the 2022 revision of the National Electrical Safety Code (te NESC, a consensus document developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers).*

We collaborate with the IEEE SCC-18 and the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee in developing safety and sustainability concepts unique to educational facilities — particularly the campuses of large research universities where the power systems are on the order of 25 to 250 connected MVA.    Power systems this large are unregulated by public service commissions because they are considered premises wiring by the NEC and considered to be on the customer side of the point of common coupling by investor-owned utilities who are.   Coupled with the NEC, the NESC sets the standard of care for all exterior campus power system design, construction and maintenance.

Public input is due July 16, 2018.   All IEEE consensus documents are on the standing agenda of our weekly Open Door teleconference — every Wednesday, 11:00 AM Eastern time.  Click here to log in.  The next teleconference of the E&H committee is scheduled for June 9th.  Anyone is welcomed to join either of the two teleconferences hosted bi-weekly during the business day of Europe (15:00 – 15:30) and the Americas (3:00 – 3:30 PM EDT) with the login information on the IEEE E&H website:  http://sites.ieee.org/icps-ehe/

Issue: [16-67]

Contact: Mike Anthony, Robert G. Arno, Lorne Clark, Nehad El-Sharif, Jim Harvey, Kane Howard, Joe Weber, Guiseppe Parise, Jim Murphy

Category: Electrical, Energy Conservation & Management, Occupational Safety

Walla Walla University

*The NFPA is an organization with fire safety as a primary consideration.  The IEEE is an organization with the safety and sustainability of electrotechnology as a primary consideration.  These are two different complementary but oftentimes competing cultures with respect to sustaining the business model of an accredited consensus standards developer.

Standards Indiana

As we explain in our ABOUT, we are continuing the development of the cadre of “code writers and vote-getters” begun at the University of Michigan in 1993.  We are now drilling down into state and local adaptations of nationally developed codes and standards that are incorporated by reference into public safety and sustainability legislation.

This post is a “test pancake” for generating discussion, and for developing a way forward for crafting state exceptions to nationally developed codes and standards.  Every state will have to be managed according to its history, culture, governance regime, asset-base and network of expertise.

Standards Michigan will remain the “free” home site but state-specific sites such as Standards Indiana will be accessible to user-interest code-writers and vote-getters.   Please send bella@standardsmichigan.com a request to join one of our mailing lists appropriate to your interest for #SmartCampus standards action in the State of Indiana.

 

Data Center Standards

“The Internet Messenger” | Buky Schwartz (2013)

Now that the post-internet era* is speeding toward us; it is time to look retrospectively–and prospectively–at what we would have, and should have done differently had we known any better.

Now comes an organization relatively new to the consensus standards development process administered by the American National Standards Institute.  Open-IX is a self-regulated community to foster the development of critical Data Center and IXP technical and operating standards.  The project is noteworthy because so much of information and communications technology develops in ad hoc consortia or in the wild, wild west of open source.

Open IX has released an exposure draft of a new standard for this technology: OIX 2 Data Center Technical Standard.  From the project prospectus:

“…OIX-2 (or “DC Standard”) establishes criteria for Data Centers to support an IXP. (An IXP, or Internet Exchange Point, is a physical network infrastructure operated by a single entity to facilitate the exchange of Internet traffic between Autonomous Systems.) The DC Standard consists of both physical and operational requirements.

Among the physical requirements, the DC Standard sets forth, notably, the minimum level of resiliency and redundancy with respect to utility feeds, transformers, UPS, electrical distribution infrastructure, back-up generators, and cooling capacity, all of which must be no less than N+1, where N is the number of network-infrastructure elements required to support active customers (i.e. PDUs, UPSs, Generators, Chillers, etc.); a minimum standard for network access into the data center and the establishment of a Meet-Me-Room with an established process and pricing for cross-connects to other data center customers and IXPs; criteria for fire protection, water sources, building security and building management; and parameters for locations of the data centers with respect to likely weather or geologic events as well as likely rail or plane transportation incidents.

On the operational side, the DC Standard sets forth requirements for general rules governing facility use; local, state, and federal licensing; power and cooling system commissioning; maintenance; operating procedures, including emergency response; hours of operation; change management; workflow management; disaster plans; customer communications; general compliance procedures; environmental compliance; and energy conservation. For some of the requirements there is an exception standard that the data center may meet, particularly with respect to existing facilities, but failure to meet the standard requirement or the exception for each category requires non-certification….”

A very big bite.   Public comment is administered on the page linked below:

Open IX Standards Home Page

Comments are due February 25th.  

You may obtain an electronic copy from Richard Wolfram (rwolfram@rwolframlex.com).  Send comments to Robert (with copy to psa@ansi.org)

We are happy to sort through the technical specifics of this standard any day at 11 AM EST.   Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.  Additionally, we will refer it to the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets twice on February 26th in European and American time zones.

Indiana University Data Center

 

Issue: [19-XX]

Category: Electrical, Information, Telecommunications, #SmartCampus

Colleagues: Robert G. Arno, Neal Dowling, Robert Schuerger, Keith Waters

*We use the term post-internet to imply that since we are able to look backward we are keeping ahead.  Nothing could be further from the truth, however.  Social critics have thought more deeply about this, however.   CLICK HERE for a starting point for further reading.

Existing Building Code

“A Square with Imaginary Buildings” | Hendrik van Steenwijck (1614)

Every month we direct our colleagues in the education industry to the US Census Department’s monthly construction report to make a point: at an average annual clip of about $75 billion, the education industry is the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States.  A large part of that construction involves infrastructure upgrades of existing buildings that contribute to sustainability goals but may not make flashy architectural statements for philanthropists.*

The International Existing Building Code (IEBC) is a model code in the International Code Council family of codes intended to provide requirements for repair and alternative approaches for alterations and additions to existing buildings (LEARN MORE).  A large number of existing buildings and structures do not comply with the current building code requirements for new construction.  Although many of these buildings are potentially salvageable, rehabilitation is often cost-prohibitive because compliance with all the new requirements for new construction could require extensive changes that go well beyond the value of building or the original scope of the alteration.

Education facility planners, architects and managers: Sound familiar?

ICC administered workgroups are already convening to pull together a number of relevant concepts for the next (2019 Group B) revision.  For the purpose of providing some perspective on the complexity and subtlety of the issues in play, a partial overview of working group activity is available in the links below.  Keep in mind that there are many other proposals being developed by our ICC working group and others.

IEBC Healthcare for BCAC December 11 2018

16-169 IEBC BCC Worksheet October 2-3 2018

Release of the Group B Monograph will be no later than March 4th.

Our next breakout teleconference for reviewing proposals for Group A and Group B Codes is March 8th, 11 AM Eastern time.   Anyone is welcomed to join us with the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Finally, we persist in encouraging education industry facility managers (especially those with operations and maintenance data) to participate in the ICC code development process.  You may do so at the link below:

 Call for Committees

CLICK HERE for the 2018-2019 ICC suite code development schedule

Issue: [16-169]

Category: Architectural, Facility Asset Management, Space Planning

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben

LEARN MORE:

ICC Group B Code Development Schedule

*The methodology used by the US Commerce Department’s contractor does not include renovations less than 50,000 square feet.

Little Big Horn College

High-Performance Green Buildings

“Hudson River Waterfront” | Colin Campbell Cooper (1913)

With about one hundred technical committees administered by accredited standards developers globally, the stream of standards action in the building energy conservation space is one of the fastest-moving; and a space that demonstrates remarkable adaption.  As the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States the education facility industry is on the receiving end of prescriptive and performance requirements produced by these technical committees that are enforced by state agencies and/or sustainability consortia.

Now comes three more candidate revisions to another fast-moving standard — ASHRAE/ICC/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1 Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings — co-developed (and significantly re-branded recently) by four different organizations that are accessible at the link below:

Public Review Draft Standards / Online Comment Database

To paraphrase the issues in play:

Addendum b: This ISC would limit the use of the “Section 7.4.1.1.2, Alternate Renewables Approach: Reduced On-Site Renewable Energy Systems and Higher-Efficiency Equipment” to building projects that are less than 25,000 square feet. This threshold is the same as that for the simplified mechanical system approach for compliance with ASHRAE 90.1, which is also 25,000 square feet. Larger buildings will be able to comply with the standard by either complying prescriptively to the onsite renewables requirements in Section 7.4.1.1.1 or calculating trade-offs between energy efficiency and on site renewables by using the performance approach in Section 7.5.

Comments are due March 3rd.

Addendum bm: This adds the option under the energy performance path in Standard 189.1 of modeling district energy systems that are not wholly contained within the project site boundary. This independent substantive change to the addendum makes changes to the language intended to improve clarity and correct some errors contained in the 2nd public review ISC version.

Comments are due March 18th.

We welcome real-time discussion on these and other energy conservation proposals any day at 11 AM Eastern time.   Our next Mechanical Engineering monthly teleconference is indicated on our CALENDAR.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our homepage.

 

Issue: [Various]

Category: Mechanical, Electrical, Energy, Facility Asset Management, US Department of Energy

Colleagues:  Eric Albert, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

Standards Georgia

Yale University Art Museum

Posted December 26, 2018

 

With about one hundred technical committees administered by accredited standards developers globally, the stream of standards action in the building energy conservation space is one of the fastest-moving; and a space that demonstrates remarkable adaption.  As the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States the education facility industry is on the receiving end of prescriptive and performance requirements produced by these technical committees that are enforced by state agencies and/or sustainability consortia.

Now comes three more candidate revisions to another fast-moving standard — ASHRAE/ICC/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1 Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings — co-developed (and significantly re-branded recently) by four different organizations that are accessible at the link below:

Public Review Draft Standards / Online Comment Database

To paraphrase some of the issues in play:

Addendum a: The first public review draft added Climate Zones 4A and 4B to those required to meet heat island mitigation criteria in Section 5.3.5.3 for roofs. In response to the first public review, two additional exceptions were added.

Addendum m: This addendum adds new provisions to enable right-sized tubing for efficient delivery of water through hot water distribution systems. The new requirement balances health, energy and plumbing code intents with energy and water efficiency strategies. The addendum is based in part on research by the California Energy Commission on the energy implications of hot water supply. The volume of water in a pipe is the primary determinant of how long a user must wait for hot water to be delivered at a fixture. This has significant implications for both energy use to heat the water and the volume of water wasted before delivery. Similar provisions are currently included in the IECC and the IgCC.

[Comment: This addendum for “right-sized” piping resembles proposals we have made in previous revisions of ASHRAE 90.1; though there are counter-arguments that involve Legionella mitigation]

Addendum n: This addendum clarifies the indoor environmental quality requirements for composite wood and related materials, by adding the recent USEPA’s regulation on composite wood products, requiring that products be certified as meeting the requirements of CARB or USEPA as being manufactured either with ultra-lowemitting formaldehyde resins or no added formaldehyde resins and updating the language on lab certification to make it consistent with the language already in the 189.1-2017 for the other building material categories in Section 8.4.2.

Comments are due January 20th.

We welcome real-time discussion on these and other energy conservation proposals any day at 11 AM Eastern time.   Our next Mechanical Engineering monthly teleconference is scheduled for February 19th, 11 AM.   Use the login credentials at the upper right of our homepage.

St. Norbert College

Issue: [Various]

Category: Mechanical, Electrical, Energy, Facility Asset Management, US Department of Energy

Colleagues:  Eric Albert, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

Standards Georgia

 

Posted October 8, 2018

“New York from Brooklyn” | Colin Campbell Cooper (1910)

With about one hundred technical committees administered by accredited standards developers globally, the stream of standards action in the building energy conservation space is one of the fastest-moving.  As the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States the education facility industry is on the receiving end of prescriptive and performance requirements produced by these technical committees that are enforced by state agencies or sustainability consortia.

At the moment, the four-partner collaboration of the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers (ASHRAE), the International Code Council (ICC). the United States Green Building  Council (USGBC) and the Illumination Engineering Society (IES) opens the proposals of its technical committees to public review in 30 to 90 day intervals according to ANSI’s Continuous Maintenance process.  Keep in mind that ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES/ICC Standard 189.1-2017 Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings is not necessarily a safety document but it deserves our attention because it is referenced into ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2016 — Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings which is incorporated by reference into many local, state and national energy conservation laws.

Little Big Horn College

Now comes two more candidate revisions that are accessible at the link below:

Public Review Draft Standards / Online Comment Database

Note that Addendum j and Addendum k are the First Public Review of candidate changes that are significant renewable energy concepts.

Comments are due October 22nd.

We welcome real-time discussion on these and other energy conservation proposals any day at 11 AM Eastern time.   Our next Mechanical Engineering monthly teleconference is scheduled for November 19th, 11 AM.  Even though the deadline for commenting on the proposals listed here will have passed, there is another batch of addenda open for public comment right behind it which we will identify in separate posts.

Use the login credentials at the upper right of our homepage.

Issue: [Various]

Category: Mechanical, Electrical, Energy, Facility Asset Management, US Department of Energy

Colleagues:  Eric Albert, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

Posted August 1, 2018

Grand Valley State University

ASHRAE is an ANSI-accredited continuous-maintenance standards developer (a significant tributary in what we call the regulatory product development “stream”).   Technical committees developing continuous maintenance regulatory products release public review documents in 30-to-90 day intervals.  The technical committee writing ASHRAE 189.1 Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings has released the following redlines for public review:

Addendum f

This addendum replaces the current definition of “construction documents,” which references Standard 90.1, with a definition that is consistent with the 2015 International Green Construction Code. The Standard 90.1 definition does not address building sites or land development which are included in the scope of Standard 189.1.

Addendum g

This addendum replaces the current defined term of “design professional” from Standard 90.1 with “registered design professional,” which is consistent with the terms used in the 2015 International Green Construction Code. Standard 189.1 addresses subject matter for which the traditional titles of architect and engineer, used in the Standard 90.1 definition) do not necessarily align with typical requirements of authorities having jurisdiction. For example, it is common for jurisdictions to have tiered requirements for designer qualifications, often permitting licensed master tradespeople to design certain projects within their respective discipline. The proposed definition also better accommodates specialty design categories such as onsite wastewater system designer, irrigation system designer, landscape designer and soil scientist.

Addendum h

This addendum clarifies that it is the alternate on-site sources of water or municipally reclaimed water are not required to be “acceptable” because it is given that anything not disallowed by an AHJ is acceptable.

All addenda may be found in their entirety at the link below:

ASHRAE Online Standards Actions & Public Review Drafts

Comments are due August 8th.

Technical committees developing ASHRAE codes and standards typically meet face-to-face twice a year at ASHRAE Conferences; the next one in Atlanta, Georgia January 14-16 2019.   We encourage education facility professionals in within driving distance of this conference to attend the ASHRAE technical standards meetings.   Ahead of these conferences we will also host a dedicated markup session for mechanical engineering standards on July 24th, 11:00 AM during which time we will examine and markup documents released for public review by ASHRAE, ASME, AWWA, IAMPO and other organizations developing documents that determine #TotalCostofOwnership of education facilities.

Issue: [Various], ASHRAE

Category: Mechanical, Electrical, Energy, Facility Asset Management, US Department of Energy

Colleagues: Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

Link to ANSI Announcement:  ANSI Standards Action (PDF Pages 42-24).

Somerset Community College

ISO 50004 | Energy Management Systems

We follow and participate in about thirty international standards; either through the US Technical Advisory Group Administrator assigned by the American National Standards Institute or through colleagues in educational institutions elsewhere in the world; mostly faculty in European colleges and universities engaged in research in electrotechnology.

Since 2013 (starting with the original University of Michigan standards advocacy enterprise we explain in our ABOUT) we have been keeping pace with the consensus documents produced by International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee 301 Energy Management and Energy Savings.  The work of ISO/TC 301 provides a globally recognized standard of practice for managing energy over time and for calculating and reporting energy savings. A key deliverable — ISO 50001 Energy Management — unites, on a broad level, the concept and execution of energy management system standardization for a range of stakeholders, including, but not limited to: industry, buildings, energy efficiency organizations, standards authorities, energy service providers, government agencies, energy management practitioners, and conformance and energy auditing firms.

Link to ISO TC/301 Strategic Business Plan.

Of particular interest to us back in 2013 were the performance provisions — fairly typical for international standards — for adopting organizations and industries to set their own benchmarks (i.e. agree upon a rate of change, rather than an absolute target).   We monitor about half of the standards action in ANSI accredited standards developers every day and decided to propose references to the work products of ISO TC/301 to US-based standards developers such as ASHRAE International and the International Code Council.  They were rejected for the same reason: US-based standards developers prefer bright-line, prescriptive standards that can be enforced by the conformance and compliance industry.

Good minds will disagree upon whether performance standards promulgated by the sister Geneva organizations (IEC, ISO and ITU) are appropriate for all industries.  Performance standards may be appropriate for the energy, manufacturing and financial industries in all nations but they may not meet the rather well-financed energy conservation goals of the education facilities industry.

The United States and China are Co-Secretariats | Click on image for more information

Georgia Tech Energy & Sustainability Services (GTESS) is the US Technical Advisory Group Administrator for the American National Standards Institute and has posted an announcement a commenting opportunity on a spinoff (auxiliary document) from the parent ISO 50001 — ISO 50004 Guidance for the implementation and maintenance of ISO 50001 — which provides practical guidance and examples for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an energy management system (EnMS) in accordance with the systematic approach of ISO 50001.   You may have a look at the last revision of ISO 50004 at the link below:

ISO 50004: 2014 PREVIEW

Comments are due March 4, 2019.   Our US collaborators must submit their comments directly to Georgia Tech Energy & Environmental Management Center (GTESS).   You may communicate directly with Deann Desai, 75 Fifth Street N.W, Suite 300, Atlanta, GA 30332-0640, (770) 605-4474, deann.desai@innovate.gatech.edu, OR melody.mcelw ee@innovate.gatech.ed to obtain review copies of these documents and to submit comments (with a copy to psa@ansi.org).  We will collaborate separately with our colleagues at other universities in Europe through the IEEE Industrial Applications Society

All international standards that affect #TotalCostofOwnership and the safety and sustainability agenda of the education industry are on the standing agenda of our monthly international standards teleconference; the next scheduled for February 8th, 11 AM EST.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

 

Issue: [13-98]

Category: Energy Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Christine Fischer, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

ANSI Standards Action | Page 22

Link to legacy website

 

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ANSI Accredited U.S. Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) to ISO

US Department of Energy: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Georgia Tech Energy Research

Lighting Theatre and Auditorium Spaces

“Dividing Light from Darkness” | Sistine Chapel | Michelangelo (1509)

The Illumination Engineering Society — one of the first names in standards-setting in illumination technology, globally* — has posted notification of immanent standards action on three consensus document that should interest the education facilities industry — particularly those facility management units that support enterprises for instruction and entertainment.  From the announcement placed in ANSI Standards Action (Pages 22-26):

IES RP-xx- Recommended Practice: Lighting Theatre and Auditorium Spaces (new standard).  Apparently this recommended practice will be derived from the design guideline described below.  Project Need: Updates the IES standard to reflect changes in lighting for performance spaces.

IES DG-20 Stage Lighting – A Guide to Planning of Theatres and Auditoriums. Add content for stage lighting controls; interfacing with networks[ houselight design, control, and performance including emergency lighting, stage worklight and cue light systems; LED and automated stage lighting instruments; power distribution for stage and houselighting systems; and future proofing systems.

IES TM-BIM- Lighting Practice: Building Information Management (new standard).  Project Need: A standardization of embedded and/or included parameters for use with building information modeling/management (BIM) project software.  The proposed technical memorandum shall include a recommended minimum list of parameters to be used in the construction of parametric luminare content used in BIM software. Note that this document shall remain software agnostic. Furthermore, it shall be limited to parameters vital to luminaire schedules and load calculations.  Stakeholders: Lighting designers, architects, engineers, performance facility managers, lighting distributors, electrical contractors.

No comments are due at this time.  IES is signaling its conformity to an administrative formality required by ANSI’s Project Initiation Notification due process procedure.  We will continue following progress and

We encourage user interests in the education facilities industry — facility managers, front-line operations and maintenance personnel, design engineers and sustainability specialists who have operations and maintenance data; and workpoint understanding of #TotalCostofOwnership concepts — to participate in the IES standards development process.  The complete consensus document library is linked below:

IES Lighting Library

The IES Standards Development home page is linked below:

IES Standards Open for Public Review

The next IES Annual Conference will be hosted in Louisville, Kentucky and we encourage our colleagues in the education facilities industry in the Louisville region to attend:

IES Annual Conference | August 2019

The electrotechnical complexity of instructional spaces is gathering pace.  Standards Michigan hosts a monthly review of standards action on education industry arts and entertainment facilities which is open to everyone.  See our CALENDAR for the next teleconference.  Additionally, because the emergent #SmartCampus is essentially an electrotechnical transformation, we collaborate with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets online 4 times monthly in European and American time zones.

University of Akron Media Production Facility

Issue: [Various}

Category: Electrical, Facility Asset Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey

*  Because illumination technology was the original (“killer”) application for electrical power, and continues to be a major component of electrical load, many competitors in standards setting have emerged.  To name a few: International Commission on Illumination, International Electrotechnical Commission and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.  In recent years the IES has partnered with the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers to set standards for energy conservation in lighting systems.

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