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2029 National Electrical Code Panel 3

Electrical Safety Catalog

2029 Revision Calendar

 

Articles covered:

Article 206
Non-Power-Limited Remote-Control and Signaling Circuits | Article 300
General Requirements for Wiring Methods and Materials | Article 335
Instrumentation Tray Cable — formerly Article 727 | Article 720
Limited-Energy System Installations | Article 721
Limited-Energy Power Sources | Article 722
Limited-Energy Cables |  Article 723
Raceways, Cable Routing Assemblies, and Cable Trays for Limited-Energy Systems | Article 724
Class 1 Power-Limited Remote-Control and Signaling Circuits | Article 725
Class 2 and Class 3 Power-Limited Circuits | Article 726
Class 4 Fault-Managed Power Systems | Article 728
Fire-Resistive Cable Systems | Article 760
Fire Alarm Systems | Article 772
Chapter 9 Tables
Ω

https://docinfofiles.nfpa.org/files/AboutTheCodes/70/70_A2028_NEC_P03_PISubmittals.pdf

Noteworthy proposal concepts:

  1. Cable trays interfering with HVAC ductwork and fire sprinkler lines.  Parallel cable tray feasibility
  2. Difficulty accessing lighting fixtures and fire alarm components for maintenance.
  3. Potential violation of plenum clearance and airflow requirements.  Some cable trays in plenums reportedly contain non-plenum-rated cables, which is a fire code violation.
  4. Document flags this as a high-priority remediation item before any LED lighting retrofit proceeds.
  5. Existing security wiring (CCTV, access control, intrusion detection) is a mix of old analog coax and early Cat 5 cables.
  6. Many runs exceed recommended length for reliable video transmission.  Frequent signal degradation and reliability complaints.
  7. Security cables are sharing overcrowded cable trays with power-limited lighting control wires and fire alarm cabling.
  8. Risk of electromagnetic interference (EMI) noted due to proximity to higher-voltage lines.
  9. Plenum space constraints make it difficult to add new IP-based security cameras without major reorganization.
  10. Current security wiring cannot support newer high-resolution IP cameras or PoE+ powered devices.
  11. Several editorial proposals by Mike Holt. (He’s generally correct on clarity improvements that he needs for educational purposes)
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For discussion next meeting, when we march through all proposals of interest to IEEE:
  • When electricians work in ceiling plenums above hallways while students pass below, several serious hazards emerge. Tools, screws, cable scraps, or ceiling tiles can fall, causing head injuries or slips. Disturbed dust, fiberglass, or potential asbestos particles may rain down, creating respiratory risks.
  • Live electrical work on lighting or cable trays raises shock/fire dangers if a fault occurs or debris shorts circuits. Open plenums can compromise fire-rated barriers, allowing smoke or flames to spread rapidly in an emergency.
  • Noise and visual distractions increase trip hazards for students. Without full barricades, lockout/tagout, and proper fall protection, these overhead activities expose young people to preventable injury. Scheduling work after hours or using full corridor closures is essential.
  • Power-limited (Class 2) cabling operates at low voltage (<60V DC) with current/power caps (~100VA), dramatically reducing shock and fire risks. Installation is simpler and cheaper—no conduit or heavy mechanical protection needed in many cases, allowing flexible routing. LEDs run cooler and more efficiently with remote drivers, improving lifespan and energy savings. Easier maintenance and safer for retrofits.
  • Severe distance and power limits due to voltage drop and 100W/5A caps require multiple drivers or shorter runs. Higher upfront costs for specialized power supplies. Potential reliability issues from more connection points. Less suitable for high-power or long-distance applications compared to line-voltage wiring.

April 29, 2026

 

At the request of IEEE Joint IAS/PES Standards Michigan, Mike Anthony moved to CMP-3 from CMP-15.

Articles Under CMP 3

  • Article 300 — General Requirements for Wiring Methods and Materials
  • Article 335 — Instrumentation Tray Cable (in some references for the 2029 cycle)
  • Article 590 — Temporary Installations (being relocated/renumbered in the 2026 cycle, e.g., potentially to Article 140 in Chapter 1, as temporary wiring is not treated as a special occupancy)
  • Article 720 — Limited-Energy System Installations (new/general article covering wiring methods for limited-energy systems)
  • Article 721 — Limited-Energy Power Sources
  • Article 722 — Limited-Energy Cable (covers cables for power-limited, fault-managed, etc.)
  • Article 723 — Raceways, Cable Routing Assemblies, and Cable Trays for Limited-Energy Systems (newly created in the 2026 cycle)
  • Article 725 — Class 2 and Class 3 Remote-Control, Signaling, and Power-Limited Circuits
  • Article 726 — Class 4 Fault-Managed Power Circuits and Equipment
  • Article 727 — Instrumentation Tray Cable
  • Article 728 — Fire-Resistive Cable Systems
  • Article 760 — Fire Alarm Systems (power-limited and non-power-limited portions)

CMP 3 also handles associated content in: Chapter 9 — Tables, including Tables 11(A) & (B) and Tables 12(A) & (B) (related to conductor properties and other supporting tables for the above topics).

  • Notes on Changes and Scope
    CMP 3 focuses on general wiring rules, cable types, raceways/trays for low-energy applications, and signaling/communications-related wiring (distinct from higher-power utilization equipment or special occupancies handled by other panels).
  • In the 2026 NEC cycle, there has been significant reorganization of Chapter 7 to consolidate limited-energy systems under articles like 720–726 (and related ones), moving away from older structures. This includes new articles for raceways/cable trays specific to limited-energy systems and adjustments to scopes for clarity.
  • Article 206 (Non-Power-Limited Remote-Control and Signaling Circuits) appears in some 2026-related references as newly designated or relocated material handled in this area.
    Temporary installations (Article 590) are transitioning out of “special” categories in restructuring efforts.

During today’s sessions of the IEEE E&H Committee and our own we will prepare draft proposals relevant to the safety and sustainability agenda of the USA education facility industry.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

 

Brown University Electrical Design Criteria | Information Technology Resources Policy

Posted December 20, 2025

The University of Michigan has supported the voice of the United States education facility industry since 1993 — the second longest tenure of any voice in the United States.  That voice has survived several organizational changes but remains intact and will continue its Safer-Simpler-Lower Cost-Longer Lasting priorities on Code Panel 3 in the 2029 Edition.

Today, during our customary “Open Door” teleconference we will examine the technical concepts under the purview of Code Panel 3; among them:

Article 206 Signaling Circuits

Article 300 General Requirements for Wiring Methods and Materials

Article 335 Instrumentation Tray Cable

Article 590 Temporary Installations

Chapter 7 Large sections of limited energy cabling for signaling and information technology

Chapter 9 Conductor Properties Tables 11A & B, Tables 12A&B

Public Input on the 2029 Edition will be received until April 9, 2026.

Related:
  • Since the lifespan of educational buildings make the building core and shell susceptible to multiple changes not typically associated with commercial buildings, additional pathways should be placed in areas where the core and shell components of the facility are likely to re-main for extended periods of time
  • It is recommended that all areas of an educational building have wireless coverage unless prohibited

The $7 Billion Stargate “Barn”

Saline Area Historical Society

Project Stargate Saline AI Data Center | EDRA of MI

“Whatever It Is, I’m Against It”

Distributed Representations of Words and Phrases

 

Tomas Mikolov, et. al
Google Inc. Mountain View

Abstract.  The recently introduced continuous Skip-gram model is an efficient method for learning high-quality distributed vector representations that capture a large number of precise syntactic and semantic word relationships. In this paper we present several extensions that improve both the quality of the vectors and the training speed. By subsampling of the frequent words we obtain significant speedup and also learn more regular word representations. We also describe a simple alternative to the hierarchical softmax called negative sampling.

An inherent limitation of word representations is their indifference to word order and their inability to represent idiomatic phrases. For example, the meanings of “Canada” and “Air” cannot be easily combined to obtain “Air Canada”. Motivated by this example, we present a simple method for finding phrases in text, and show that learning good vector representations for millions of phrases is possible.

 

Large Language Models and Infrastructure Technical Standards

Large Language Models (LLMs) are poised to significantly accelerate and reshape the development of infrastructure standards — including engineering codes, technical specifications for civil works, transportation, energy grids, water systems, and related Standards Development Organization (SDO) processes at ASTM, IEEE, ASABE, ISO, and similar bodies.  This connection traces back to foundational ideas in distributed representations (Hinton et al., Mikolov’s Word2Vec) that powered the transformer revolution, which in turn enabled modern LLMs and the shift from passive generative AI to active, goal-directed agentic AI.

While LLMs will not replace human expertise, consensus-building, or rigorous validation, they will transform traditionally slow, document-heavy workflows into faster, more collaborative, and data-driven processes.

1. Faster Drafting, Summarization, and Gap Analysis

LLMs can rapidly summarize lengthy documents, extract key requirements, identify inconsistencies across related standards, and generate initial draft sections or comparison tables. This is especially valuable for reviewing historical codes, research papers, regulations, and stakeholder inputs.

Infrastructure example: In renewable energy permitting or grid interconnection standards, LLMs excel at processing complex environmental impact statements and regulatory texts to accelerate reviews.

2. Enhanced Requirements Engineering and Consistency Checking

LLMs support formal requirements extraction, flag ambiguities, suggest measurable criteria, and translate between domains. They help maintain alignment between textual standards and digital implementations such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) or simulation tools.

3. Improved Accessibility, Education, and Stakeholder Participation

LLMs make standards more usable by generating plain-language explanations, FAQs, examples, and tailored training materials. They lower barriers for broader participation in SDO committees by helping non-experts understand and contribute to drafts.

4. Domain-Specific Applications in Infrastructure

  • Civil, Structural & Agricultural Engineering: Design ideation, safety analysis, and updating standards for new materials and climate resilience.
  • Permitting & Compliance: Summarizing environmental documents and speeding up infrastructure deployment.
  • Interoperability & Testing: Verification support for software-heavy systems such as smart grids and autonomous infrastructure.

5. Broader Process Changes for SDOs

  • Zero-draft acceleration for preliminary stakeholder review
  • Continuous monitoring for maintenance and timely updates
  • Multi-agent LLM systems for parallel virtual expert review before human consensus

Limitations and Important Caveats

  • “Hallucinations” & Validation: Outputs must always be human-verified, especially in safety-critical areas. Domain-specific fine-tuning and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) help but are not foolproof.
  • Bias, Copyright & Accountability: Standards demand traceability and consensus; LLMs can introduce subtle biases or IP concerns.
  • Not a Full Replacement: Human judgment remains essential for risk assessment, ethics, and real-world tradeoffs.

Expect 2–5× faster iteration on drafts, superior knowledge management, and more adaptive standards. Early adopters using LLM assisted tools with proper governance will lead the next generation of infrastructure standards development.

Reaction: May 21 Open Meeting

FERC HOME

Presentation & Report | The 2026 Summer Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment

The Commission voted on a series of mostly consent agenda items focused on electric reliability, market rules, compliance, infrastructure, and related matters.

In opening remarks and related announcements, FERC highlighted its intent to act by June 2026 on a separate large load interconnection docket. The meeting reflected ongoing efforts to refine interconnection processes, address co-location issues in PJM, ensure just and reasonable rates, and support infrastructure while maintaining reliability.

Power transformers and distribution transformers will face supply deficits of 30% and 10% in 2025

 

March 19, 2026

Key Reliability & Cybersecurity Actions. FERC approved important updates to Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards. These included modernized rules for virtualization (allowing secure use of virtual machines), enhanced security management controls for low-impact cyber systems (CIP-003-11), and refinements to the definition of “control center” to better protect high-risk assets. The changes aim to strengthen the bulk-power system against rising cyber threats and extreme weather while reducing unnecessary administrative burdens.

Electric Rate and Complaint Resolutions. The Commission resolved several long-running rate complaints, including setting a base return on equity (ROE) of 9.57% for New England Transmission Owners. It addressed complaints involving spot market sales exceeding price caps in the WECC region and cost allocation issues in MISO related to DOE emergency orders. Several tariff revisions and generator interconnection filings were also accepted.

Other Actions. FERC modernized Electric Quarterly Report (EQR) filing requirements, authorized multiple asset transactions and dispositions, and approved several natural gas pipeline, storage, and abandonment projects. A presentation on the 2025 State of the Markets Report was also delivered.

FERC’s involvement in CHP plants at universities and hospitals depends on and how the facility interacts with the bulk electric power system and wholesale markets. In many cases, FERC’s role is indirect—but it can become significant under certain conditions.  We cover this topic separately in our periodic US Department of Energy Combined Heat & Power eCATALOG

Next Open Meeting: May 21.  Keep in mind that much “bandwidth” is devoted to administrative issues; the technical specifics of primary interest to us referenced in case dockets that are referenced here:  FERC Online

The current full complement of five FERC commissioners is relatively new as of December 23, 2025. The two most recent additions — Chairman Laura V. Swett (term expiring June 30, 2030) and Commissioner David A. LaCerte (term expiring June 30, 2026) — were confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 7, 2025.
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This restored FERC to its full five members after prior vacancies and transitions earlier in the year. The other commissioners (David Rosner, Lindsay S. See, and Judy W. Chang) have been in place since mid-2024 or earlier, but the current lineup only fully formed about two and a half months ago.
Ω
This followed changes tied to the new administration, including shifts in majority and leadership.
January 22.  Issues of interest discussed at the FERC Open Meeting on January 22, 2026, centered primarily on electric sector matters related to generator interconnection reforms, expedited processes for resource adequacy.  Our interest lies in the effect of FERC action will have on the utility costs of educational settlements which, of course, practically involves all utilities and how those decisions are reflected in state tariffs.
One issue of particular interest for Michigan: Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS) process (Docket No. ER25-2454-002): The Commission addressed arguments on rehearing and sustained its prior July 21, 2025, order approving MISO’s ERAS framework. This provides an expedited interconnection study process for generation projects addressing urgent near-term resource adequacy and reliability needs in the MISO region.  Discussions involved balancing reliability concerns (e.g., load growth, resource shortfalls) against claims of undue discrimination or preference in interconnection queuing, as raised by public interest groups.  We will see these conclusions reflected in Michigan Public Service Commission action.Other agenda elements likely included routine administrative matters (e.g., A-1 Agency Administrative Matters, A-2 Customer Matters/Reliability/Security/Market Operations) and consent items (often non-controversial electric, gas, hydro, or certificate matters voted en bloc without discussion).
No major presentations were noted, and the meeting focused on these reliability/interconnection and market integrity issues amid broader grid challenges like queue backlogs, rapid load growth, and transitioning resources.The Q&A afterward involved energy media, with emphasis by Laura V. Swett on reliability concerns ahead of likely winter storms. The next public open meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 19th. 

December 18. The public meetings are dominated by administrative procedures and mutual admiration.  Technical issues that require in-depth, expert-level understanding of complex laws, rules, guidelines, and precedents beyond surface-level awareness appear deeper into the FERC website.  There you will generally find:

  • Nuanced interpretation of statutes and agency decisions
  • Awareness of historical context and evolving policies
  • Insight into how rules interact with technical, economic, and operational realities
  • Impacts of changes and navigate compliance strategically

As interest and time allows we can pick through technical specifics regarding FERC oversight of interstate electricity with the IEEE colleagues.

Ω

Ω

 

 

Whats On a Utility Pole

Midwest Energy Communications: What’s On a Utility Pole?

 

Hegemon Fairfield County Connecticut

Hubbell Corporation, a leader in electrical and utility solutions, significantly contributes to data center build-outs by providing end-to-end infrastructure products. These include reliable connectivity, structured cabling, wiring devices, enclosures, and modular prefabricated systems for high-density server rooms and power distribution. Through brands like PCX and Hubbell Premise Wiring, it ensures scalability, maximum uptime, and regulatory compliance, backed by a 25-year guarantee. Amid AI-driven demands, Hubbell’s vertically integrated approach supports efficient grid-to-chip power management, enabling faster, resilient expansions for colocation and enterprise facilities.

 

 

Cornbread & Grandma’s Chicken Soup

Standards Nebraska | Statement of Net Position: $5.191B (Page 26)

WRITTEN BY Kalani Simpson PUBLISHED May 25, 2021

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 5- to 6-pound stewing hen or baking chicken
  • 1 package of chicken wings
  • 3 large onions
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 3 parsnips
  • 2 turnips
  • 11 to 12 large carrots
  • 5 to 6 celery stems
  • 1 bunch of parsley
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Clean the chicken, put it in a large pot and cover it with cold water. Bring the water to boil.
  2. Add the chicken wings, onions, sweet potato, parsnips, turnips and carrots. Boil about 1 and a half hours. Remove fat from the surface as it accumulates.
  3. Add the parsley and celery. Cook the mixture about 45 min. longer.
  4. Remove the chicken. The chicken is not used further for the soup. (The meat makes excellent chicken parmesan.)
  5. Put the vegetables in a food processor until they are chopped fine or pass through a strainer. Both were performed in the present study.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

(Note: This soup freezes well.)  Matzo balls were prepared according to the recipe on the back of the box of matzo meal (Manischewitz).

PRINT Recipe

b

 

Cornbread & Coffee

Large Language Model Standards

Perhaps the World Ends Here | Joy Harjo

 

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table.
So it has been since creation, and it will go on.
We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human.
We make men at it, we make women.
At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.
Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children.
They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.
This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.
Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror.
A place to celebrate the terrible victory.
We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.
At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

 

Standards and benchmarks for evaluating large language models (LLMs). Some of the most commonly used benchmarks and standards include:

  1. GLUE (General Language Understanding Evaluation): GLUE is a benchmark designed to evaluate and analyze the performance of models across a diverse range of natural language understanding tasks, such as text classification, sentiment analysis, and question answering.
  2. SuperGLUE: SuperGLUE is an extension of the GLUE benchmark, featuring more difficult language understanding tasks, aiming to provide a more challenging evaluation for models.
  3. CoNLL (Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning): CoNLL has historically hosted shared tasks, including tasks related to coreference resolution, dependency parsing, and other syntactic and semantic tasks.
  4. SQuAD (Stanford Question Answering Dataset): SQuAD is a benchmark dataset for evaluating the performance of question answering systems. It consists of questions posed on a set of Wikipedia articles, where the model is tasked with providing answers based on the provided context.
  5. RACE (Reading Comprehension from Examinations): RACE is a dataset designed to evaluate reading comprehension models. It consists of English exam-style reading comprehension passages and accompanying multiple-choice questions.
  6. WMT (Workshop on Machine Translation): The WMT shared tasks focus on machine translation, providing benchmarks and evaluation metrics for assessing the quality of machine translation systems across different languages.
  7. BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy): BLEU is a metric used to evaluate the quality of machine-translated text relative to human-translated reference texts. It compares n-gram overlap between the generated translation and the reference translations.
  8. ROUGE (Recall-Oriented Understudy for Gisting Evaluation): ROUGE is a set of metrics used for evaluating automatic summarization and machine translation. It measures the overlap between generated summaries or translations and reference summaries or translations.

These benchmarks and standards play a crucial role in assessing the performance and progress of large language models, helping researchers and developers understand their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

Yann Lecun & Lex Fridman: Limits of LLMs

New topic for us; time only to cover the basics.  We have followed language, generally, however — every month — because best practice discovery and promulgation in conceiving, designing, building, occupying and maintaining the architectural character of education settlements depends upon a common vocabulary.  The struggle to agree upon vocabulary presents an outsized challenge to the work we do.

Large language models hold significant potential for the building construction industry by streamlining various processes. They can analyze vast amounts of data to aid in architectural design, structural analysis, and project management. These models can generate detailed plans, suggest optimized construction techniques, and assist in cost estimation. Moreover, they facilitate better communication among stakeholders by providing natural language interfaces for discussing complex concepts. By harnessing the power of large language models, the construction industry can enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and ultimately deliver better-designed and more cost-effective buildings.

Join us today at the usual hour.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Related:

print(“Python”)

Standards January: Language

Standard for Large Language Model Agent Interface

 

Speech Day

Speech Day generally refers to an annual event held at schools in the United Kingdom, particularly private or independent schools, where students showcase their achievements and receive prizes or awards. The exact date of “Speech Day” varies by school and is typically determined by the school’s academic calendar. It is usually held towards the end of the academic year, either in the summer term or in the early autumn term, before students break for the summer holidays.

Westonbirt School

print(“Python”)

Active Python Releases

 

“Python is the programming equivalent

of a Swiss Army Knife.”

— Some guy

 

The Python Standard Library

Open source standards development is characterized by very open exchange, collaborative participation, rapid prototyping, transparency and meritocracy.   The Python programming language is a high-level, interpreted language that is widely used for general-purpose programming. Python is known for its readability, simplicity, and ease of use, making it a popular choice for beginners and experienced developers alike.  Python has a large and active community of developers, which has led to the creation of a vast ecosystem of libraries, frameworks, and tools that can be used for a wide range of applications. These include web development, scientific computing, data analysis, machine learning, and more.

Another important aspect of Python is its versatility. It can be used on a wide range of platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and even mobile devices. Python is also compatible with many other programming languages and can be integrated with other tools and technologies, making it a powerful tool for software development.  Overall, the simplicity, readability, versatility, and large community support of Python make it a valuable programming language to learn for anyone interested in software development including building automation.

As open source software, anyone may suggest an improvement to Python(3.X) starting at the link below:

Python Enhancement Program

Python Download for Windows

Python can be used to control building automation systems. Building automation systems are typically used to control various systems within a building, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, security, and more. Python can be used to control these systems by interacting with the control systems through the building’s network or other interfaces.

There are several Python libraries available that can be used for building automation, including PyVISA, which is used to communicate with instrumentation and control systems, and PyModbus, which is used to communicate with Modbus devices commonly used in building automation systems. Python can also be used to develop custom applications and scripts to automate building systems, such as scheduling temperature setpoints, turning on and off lights, and adjusting ventilation systems based on occupancy or other variables. Overall, Python’s flexibility and versatility make it well-suited for use in building automation systems.

Subversion®

Building Automation & Control Networks

Gallery: Graduation Commencement Speeches

“It is at leaving the college and entering the world that the education of youth begins…

It is less uniform than that of childhood but more dependent on chance, and doubtless more important.

The youth is then attacked by a greater number of sensations: all that surrounds him strikes him,

and strikes him forcibly.”

—  Claude-Adrien Helvétius (A Treatise on Man)

 

Constructor University (formerly, Jacobs University Bremen Germany) Graduation Band: “Freebird”

Intercollegiate Studies Institute | What Makes the West Strong (Sir Roger Scruton)

“It’s hard to think without a future.” | C.P. Snow (The Masters, 1951)

 

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