Sport Lighting

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Sport Lighting

May 31, 2025
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ANSI Standards: Open for public review

 

Athletic and recreational sports enterprises are important features in education communities; supportive of brand identity and cohort creation.  Assuring the safety and sustainability of these assets is informed by several best practice titles; among them the Illuminating Engineering Society recommended practice RP-6-15 Sports and Recreational Area Lighting  From the project prospectus:

The purpose of RP-6-15  is to provide the reader with recommendations to aid in the design of sports lighting systems. Popular sports, such as baseball, tennis, basketball and football as well as recreational social activities, such as horseshoe pitching and croquet are covered. Venues for spectators of amateur, collegiate, and professional sports are complex facilities that should provide not only for the spectators, but also the equipment used in modern sports broadcasting. This document does not address those needs, so the reader should look for guidance from the sports league or the project consultant.
Sports lighting systems consume power which over time can be significant, and IES RP-6-15 defines methods for maximizing energy efficiency.

The IES-suite joins standards developed by the International Code Council (International Building Code), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE 3001.9) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 70) that must be applied skillfully by design professionals and understood by athletic facility managers.  Other consensus standards developers such as the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers and the Entertainment Services and Technology Association were moving into this domain before the circumstances of the pandemic.

We always encourage our colleagues in the education industry to do so themselves; starting with the links below:

Committees

IES Standards Open for Public Review

"People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy" -- Anton Chekhov

Comments on proposed changes to IES LP-6-2x Lighting Practice: Lighting Control Systems – Properties, Selection, and Specification will be received until April 1st

Comments on Draft “IES TM-39  Technical Memorandum: Quantification and Specification of Flicker” will be received until August 12th
Keep in mind that the IES typically deals with the application of best practice in illumination.  It neither covers the reliability of the power systems nor the power chain to the luminaries.  Recommended practice for the power chain are now being developed by the IEEE Industrial Applications Society; specifically IEEE 3001.9 – Recommended Practice for the Design of Power Systems Supplying Lighting Systems in Commercial and Industrial Facilities.  The IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee pulls together ALL the standards — ICC, IEEE, IEC, NFPA, IES, ASHRAE, ASTM, ESTA and any other emergent consensus or open source documents that might set the standard of care for the education industry.

University of Michigan

The IEEE E&H Committee meets online 4 times monthly in Europe and the United States; and those meetings are open to the public (CLICK HERE).   Additionally, we set aside one hour every month to walk through the entire suite of standards for sports and recreation facilities.   See our CALENDAR for the date of our next Athletic & Recreation standards teleconference.  Login credential are at the upper right of our home page

Issue: [16-132]

Category: Electrical, Athletics & Recreation

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Kane Howard

Related:

Designing Lighting for People and Buildings

Engineering in Sport

Fuel Cell Power Systems

May 30, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Inventor of the fuel cell | CLICK ON IMAGE

We have been following the developmental trajectory of another “alternative energy” – related consensus product — NFPA 853  Standard for the Installation of Stationary Fuel Cell Power Systems a document that sets the criteria for minimizing fire hazards associated fuel cells power generating technology installations; many of which are pre-engineered and pre-packaged by manufacturers.

Keep in mind that it is an installation standard and “agnostic” about the type of fuel cell technology.  As such, it is likely referenced in energy project design guidelines and construction contract specifications.  From the document prospectus:

Scope:  This standard shall apply to the design, construction, and installation of stationary fuel cell power systems and shall include the following:

(1) A singular prepackaged, self-contained power system unit

(2) Any combination of prepackaged, self-contained power system units

(3) Power system units comprising two or more factory-matched modular components intended to be assembled in the field

(4) Engineered and field-constructed power systems that employ fuel cells.

The current edition of NFPA 853 is dated 2015

The NFPA Technical Committee on Electric Generating Plants has already begun work on the 2020 revision.  A selection of First and Second Draft documents are posted below:

NFPA 853_F2019_ECG_AAA_SDmeetingagenda_04_19

NFPA 853_F2019_ECG_AAA_FDmeetingagenda_04_18

Response to the Second Draft Report under NFPA’s NITMAM process are due August 29th. 

We normally collaborate with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee on consensus products of this nature because that is where the most informed locus of expertise lies.   That committee meets online four times monthly in European and American time zones.   We also host our own codes and standards for power and telecommunication systems teleconference every month.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Category:  District Energy, Electrical, Energy, Facility Asset Management, Fire Safety, Risk Management, #SmartCampus, US Department of Energy

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Bill Cantor (wcantor@ieee.org)

Standards MassachusettsStandards Texas, Standards Ohio

 

Fellows Coffee Shop

May 30, 2025
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“I have found that it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk

that keep the darkness at bay.”

— J.R. R. Tolkein

 

 

Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24: £1.310 billion

Tolkien, author of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” completed his studies at the University of Birmingham in 1915. He graduated with first-class honors in English Language and Literature. After graduation, Tolkien went on to serve in World War I before embarking on his distinguished career as a writer and academic.

Old Joe: Campus Romances

Old Joe Clocktower | Fixing Old Joe

Roger Scruton “Why Intellectuals are Mostly Left”


Coffee

How Coffee Loves Us Back

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

Best Coffee Spots Near Campus

Social Experiment: Giving College Students Coffee

Bruin Café

 

Open Air Audio

May 30, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre

University of Colorado | Boulder County

 

Hosting open-air celebrations such as graduations and cultural requires sensitivity to audio standards that ensure high-quality sound and audience safety.  Today at the usual hour we examine the standards covering sound system design, noise control, loudness levels, equipment specifications, weather and local environmental considerations.
Surprisingly, there are many even without approaching the not insignificant cabling system standards.  We pick three representatives titles which cross reference one another:

 

World Health Organization recommendations for limiting exposure to leisure noise (e.g., concerts) to a level exceeding 80 dBA for 24 hours or 140 dB peak sound pressure to prevent hearing loss.  Recommendations for speech heavy events will defer from musical events.

 

Audio Engineering Society Guideline AES56-2008 which provides recommendations for loudspeaker placement in sound reinforcement systems.  Key points include:

    • Height and Angle: Line array speakers are often elevated (e.g., on trusses or poles) and angled to cover the audience while reducing sound spill to non-audience areas.
    • Distance: Main speakers should be placed to avoid excessive sound pressure near the front (e.g., 95–100 dBA max for audience safety) and ensure clarity at the back.

Acoustical Society of America ASA-2010 Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements, and Guidelines for Schools.  While primarily for schools, this standard’s principles can apply to open-air educational or community events, emphasizing background noise control and speech intelligibility.  For open-air audiences at events like outdoor lectures or festivals, speaker placement should minimize interference from environmental noise (e.g., traffic, wind). The standard suggests maintaining a signal-to-noise ratio where speech is at least 15 dB above background noise for clarity.

Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Related:

Amphitheaters

Gallery: Graduation Commencement Speeches

 


Examples of challenges met in parking lot performances by the USA’s best cover band from Smyrna Georgia:

 



Harvard University | Middlesex County Massachusetts

Fire Alarm & Signaling Code

May 30, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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“Prometheus Bound” | Thomas Cole (1847)

NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code is one of the core National Fire Protection Association titles widely incorporated by reference into public safety legislation.   NFPA 72 competes with titles of “similar” scope — International Fire Code — developed by the International Code Council.  We place air quotes around the word similar because there are gaps and overlaps depending upon whether or not each is adopted partially or whole cloth by the tens of thousands of jurisdictions that need both.

Our contact with NFPA 72 dates back to the early 2000’s when the original University of Michigan advocacy enterprise began challenging the prescriptive requirements for inspection, testing and maintenance (IT&M) in Chapter 14.  There are hundreds of fire alarm shops, and thousands of licensed fire alarm technicians in the education facility industry and the managers of this cadre of experts needed leadership in supporting their lower #TotalCostofOwnership agenda with “code-writing and vote-getting”.   There was no education industry trade association that was even interested, much less effective, in this space so we had to do “code writing and vote getting” ourselves (See ABOUT).

Code writing and vote getting means that you gather data, develop relationships with like minded user-interests, find agreement where you can, then write proposals and defend them at NFPA 72 technical committee meetings for 3 to 6 years.  Prevailing in the Sturm und Drang of code development for 3 to 6 years should be within the means of business units of colleges and universities that have been in existence for 100’s of years.  The real assets under the stewardship of these business units are among the most valuable real assets on earth.

Consider the standard of care for inspection, testing and maintenance.  Our cross-cutting experience in over 100 standards suites allows us to say with some authority that, at best the IT&M tables of NFPA 72 Chapter 14 present easily enforceable criteria for IT&M of fire alarm and signaling systems.  At worst, Chapter 14 is a solid example of market-making by incumbent interests as the US standards system allows.   Many of the IT&M requirements can be modified for a reliability, or risk-informed centered maintenance program but fire and security shops in the education industry are afraid to apply performance standards because of risk exposure.   This condition is made more difficult in large universities that have their own maintenance and enforcement staff.  The technicians see opportunities to reduce IT&M frequencies — thereby saving costs for the academic unit facility managers — the enforcement/compliance/conformity/risk management professionals prohibit the application of performance standards.  They want prescriptive standards for bright line criteria to make their work easier to measure.

While we have historically focused on Chapter 14 we have since expanded our interest into communication technologies within buildings since technicians and public safety personnel depend upon them.  Content in Annex G — Guidelines for Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings and Campuses — is a solid starting point and reflects of our presence when the guidance first appeared in the 2016 Edition.  We shall start with a review of the most recent transcript of the NFPA Technical Committee on Testing and Maintenance of Fire Alarm and Signaling Systems

NFPA 72 First Draft Meeting (A2024)

Public Emergency Reporting Systems (SIG-PRS) First Draft

Public comment of the First Draft of the 2025 Edition is receivable until May 31, 2023.   As always, we encourage direct participation in the NFPA process by workpoint experts with experience, data and even strong opinions about shortcomings and waste in this discipline.  You may key in your proposals on the NFPA public input facility linked below:

https://www.nfpa.org/login

You will need to set up a (free) NFPA TerraView account.   Alternatively, you may join us any day at 11 AM US Eastern time or during our Prometheus or Radio colloquia.   See our CALENDAR for the online meeting.

Issue: [15-213]

Category: Fire Safety & Security, #SmartCampus, Informatics

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Joe DeRosier, Josh Elvove, Jim Harvey, Marcelo Hirschler


More

2013 NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code (357 pages)

TIA-222 Standard For Towers And Antenna Supporting Structures

 

Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings

 

ARCHIVE / NFPA 72

National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security

 

Evensong “Knoxville: Summer of 1915”

May 29, 2025
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Michigan Central


Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA. Founded in 1793, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the United States. The college was established through a bequest of Colonel Ephraim Williams Jr., a war hero who died in the Battle of Lake George during the French and Indian War. In his will, Colonel Williams left funds for the establishment of a free school on the condition that it be located in Williamstown.

Strawberry Shortcake

May 29, 2025
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Standards IndianaStrawberry Shortcake Balloon 2014

Indiana University Net Position 2024:  $5.448B (Page 28)

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