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August 14, 2003

“The world is changed by examples, not by opinions.”

– Marc Andreesen (Founder of Netscape, the first dominant web browser)

 

August 14, 2003 Power Outage at the University of Michigan

ICYMI: University of Michigan Welcomes PLASA

“Has U.S. President Donald Trump gone too far?”

The Oxford Union Society is the world’s most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. Since 1823, the Union has been promoting debate and discussion not just in Oxford University, but across the globe.


Vedika Rastogi | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 1/8 | Oxford Union

Alex Jackson | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 2/8 | Oxford Union

Toby Young | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 3/8 | Oxford Union

Yasmin Benoit | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 4/8 | Oxford Union

Tommy Nguyen | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 5/8 | Oxford Union

James Lindsay | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 6/8 | Oxford Union

Benjamin Butterworth | This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far – 8/8 | Oxford Union

 

“How to Escape the Woke Matrix”

 

The Imitation Game

“Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals” Alan Turing PhD dissertation 1938

Computing Machinery and Intelligence 1950

 

May 28, 1936: Alan Turing submitted his paper “On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem” that would quietly spark the digital revolution with the design of a machine (Bombe) that significantly shortened World War Two in Europe.

– Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Related:

Facilities | WRNS Studio Frist Health Center (~$48.5 Million)

Nursery Stock

“Children in the Garden” 1892 Gładysław Podkowiński

The purpose of the American Standard for Nursery Stock — ANSI Z60.1 — is to provide buyers and sellers of nursery stock with a common terminology in order to facilitate transactions involving nursery stock.  This standards establishes common techniques for

(a) measuring plants,

(b) specifying and stating the size of plants,

(c) determining the proper relationship between height and caliper, or height and width, and

(d) determining whether a root ball or container is large enough for a particular size plant.

This document — prepared under a grant to ANSI by AmericanHort — is a communication tool for the exchanges of products and services but does not provide buyers with any assurance of the health or quality of the nursery stock being specified or sold.  It does not cover labor resources.

The American Hort standards landing page is linked below:

American Nursery Stock Standards

CLICK HERE for the current edition of ANSI Z60.1 2014

The 2014 revision should be entering another revision cycle though the pandemic has slowed standards setting among many non-profits.  We encourage front-line staff to participate directly in the American Hort standards setting enterprise.  CLICK HERE for contact information.

We sweep through the status of best practice literature for anything related to exterior assets in education communities during our Bucolia colloquium.   See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [18-160]

Category:  Bucolia, Pathways

IoT Enabled Smart Gardening

Update Status

We continue sorting through anomalies with Godaddy Tech Support to resolve Standards Michigan requirement for frequent and timely updates across all of our platforms.  We got half the problem solved last month when we upgraded to WordPress 6.8.1 but updating was slow on mobile devices.  Now we need another PHP update.  Our normal course of business will not be interrupted as far as our daily colloquia is concerned but we cannot predict the outcome on the images which are an essential part of our work.

  • Posts are not updating across all platforms — particularly on X on iPhones.  Usually a caching problem and not one we haven’t seen before.
  • Some images will not center.
  • Footer and right-side widgets not loading properly.

The good news is that all our content, including media, survived the WordPress upgrade.  The next step in our “GoDaddy Journey” will be the PHP upgrade this week.  There will likely be surprises but none that we cannot handle.

Much like  hardware in ICT, software must also be maintained.

This page will be posted to our X-feed: @StandardsMich to remind our colleagues and followers that software needs to be “maintained”

Coffee Society

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Historic Buildings

2024 / 2025 / 2026 Code Development: Group B (2025)

Complete Monograph (2630 pages)

Notre-Dame de Paris “Our Lady of Paris” Wikimedia Commons

International Existing Building Code: Chapter 12 Historic Buildings

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Notre-Dame de Paris “Our Lady of Paris” Wikimedia Commons

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

LIVE: I-Code Group B Public Comment Hearings

Metering and Billing

Although electrical power  delivered with both active and reactive components our interest lies primarily in the useable power component — watts (power) and watt-hour(energy).  A secondary concern is whether or not energy useage meters are over-specified; particularly on points in building power chains downstream from the utility service meters.

Electrical meters, used for measuring electricity consumption, must comply with various codes and standards to ensure accuracy, safety, and reliability.  Today at the usual hour – from the user point of view – we will review the status of key codes and standards relevant to electrical meter manufacturing, primarily focusing on North American standards.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

ANSI C12.1 – Code for Electricity Metering

  • Specifies performance criteria for AC watt-hour meters, demand meters, pulse devices, and auxiliary devices.
  • Covers testing, installation, accuracy classes, voltage/frequency ratings, and environmental tests (e.g., RF interference).
  • Current edition: ANSI C12.1-2024.

ANSI C12.10 – Physical Aspects of Watt-hour Meters

  • Defines physical and dimensional requirements for watt-hour meters, including socket and bottom-connected meters.
  • Ensures compatibility with metering installations.

ANSI C12.20 – Electricity Meters – 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 Accuracy Classes

  • Establishes accuracy requirements for revenue-grade meters (0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.5% accuracy classes).
  • Note: Content merged into ANSI C12.1 in recent updates, with C12.20 withdrawn.

ANSI C12.31 – Standard Definitions of AC Electrical Power

  • Defines terms for active, reactive, and apparent power/energy, ensuring consistent measurement methodologies.
  • Under revision as ANSI C12.31-202x.

NEMA C12 Series

  • Published by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).
  • Aligns with ANSI C12 standards, focusing on metering equipment specifications and safety.

UL 2735 – Standard for Electric Utility Meters

  • Safety standard for electric meters, addressing electrical shock, fire hazards, and mechanical risks.
  • Ensures meters meet safety requirements for installation and operation.

NFPA 70 – National Electrical Code (NEC)

  • While not specific to manufacturing, NEC governs meter installation requirements (e.g., meter base mounting, grounding).
  • Relevant for ensuring meters comply with installation safety standards.  We cover this topic of a safety point of view in the sessions linked below:

Electric Service Metering & Billing

Electrical Meter Center Manufacturing

Related:

The Effects of Energy Dashboards and Competition Programming on Electricity Consumption on a College Campus (Western Michigan University)

Comparative Feedback on Consumers’ Energy-Saving Behavior: A College Dormitory Example

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

 

“Federal Power Act” | June 10, 1920, Chapter 285 of the 66th Congress] 

Comment on FERC Action

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is an independent agency within the U.S. federal government that regulates interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. It oversees wholesale energy markets, pipeline infrastructure, and hydroelectric projects, ensuring fair rates and reliability. While independent, FERC operates under the Department of Energy’s umbrella but does not take direct orders from the executive branch.

FERC enforces energy laws, approves infrastructure projects, and regulates market competition. FERC plays a crucial role in balancing economic, environmental, and energy security concerns, aiming to maintain a stable and efficient energy system across the United States.  Since the U.S. shares interconnected electricity grids with Canada and Mexico, FERC’s decisions on transmission rules and pricing affect energy flows and grid reliability in both countries.

Our interest lies in closing a technical gap that exists upstream from the building service point and downstream from the utility supply point. Some, not all of it, can be accomplished with titles in the IEEE catalog.

Given the dominance of vertical incumbents in the electric power domain, we have submitted a tranche of reliability concepts into the ASHRAE, NFPA and ICC catalogs — not so much with the expectation that they will be gratefully received — but that our proposals will unleash competitive energies among developers of voluntary consensus standards.

One of our proposals was heard at the April-May meetings of the International Code Council.  We are happy to discuss the outcome of that proposal any day at the usual hour.

Commissioner-Led Reliability Technical Conference Agenda: October 16, 2024, 10:00 AM

 

Nothing happened in August

Technical Conference RE: Large Loads Co-Located at Generating Facilities: November 1, 10AM EDT

Echo Chamber Synonyms: mutual admiration society, self congratulatory club,

back patting session, congratulatory loop, closed loop of praise, reciprocal praise fest,

feedback bubble, endless validation cycle, compliment carousel.

Predictive Reliability Analysis of Power Distribution Systems Considering the Effects of Seasonal Factors on Outage Data Using Weibull Analysis Combined With Polynomial Regression

February 2024 Highlights 

Failure Rate Prediction Model of Substation Equipment Based on Weibull Distribution and Time Series Analysis

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.

December 2022 Winter Storm Elliott Grid Operations: Key Findings and Recommendations (Joint Inquiry)

 

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.

 

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