Data Center Bust, Boom, Bust, Boom….

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Data Center Bust, Boom, Bust, Boom….

October 27, 2026
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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"One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, "My little computer said such a funny thing this morning" - Alan Turing

Data centers in colleges and universities are crucial for supporting the extensive technological infrastructure required for modern education and research. These centers house critical servers and storage systems that manage vast amounts of data, ensuring reliable access to academic resources, administrative applications, and communication networks. They enable the secure storage and processing of sensitive information, including student records, faculty research, and institutional data.

Uptime Institute Tier Classification

Moreover, data centers facilitate advanced research by providing the computational power needed for data-intensive studies in fields like bioinformatics, climate science, and artificial intelligence. They support virtual learning environments and online course management systems, essential for the increasingly prevalent hybrid and online education models. Efficient data centers also contribute to campus sustainability goals by optimizing energy use through modern, eco-friendly technologies.

ANSI/TIA 942 Data Center Infrastructure Standard

Additionally, robust data center infrastructure enhances the university’s ability to attract top-tier faculty and students by demonstrating a commitment to cutting-edge technology and resources. They also play a vital role in disaster recovery and business continuity, ensuring that educational and administrative functions can resume quickly after disruptions. Overall, data centers are integral to the academic mission, operational efficiency, and strategic growth of colleges and universities.

Standards distinguish meaningful patterns from imagined ones.

We have followed development of the technical standards that govern the success of these “installations” since 1993; sometimes nudging technical committees — NFPA, IEEE, ASHRAE, BICSI and UL.   The topic is vast and runs fast so today we will review, and perhaps respond to, the public consultations that are posted on a near-daily basis.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Related:

Oakland University examining feasibility of hosting data center on campus

University of Virginia — Fontaine Research Data Center

Ernst & Young LLP: Why there is no silver bullet for data center financing

Data Center Growth

Gallery: Supercomputers & Data Centers

Data Center Wiring

Datacenter Architecture

Power Management For Data Centers Challenges And Opportunities

Data Center Operations & Maintenance

Inauguration of New Supercomputer

Big Data Applications in Edge-Cloud Systems

Supercomputer Tour

Data Center Metrics

Critical Operations Power Systems

October 27, 2026
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Disaster 500

NFPA 1660: Standard for Emergency, Continuity, and Crisis Management: Preparedness, Response, and Recovery


The original University of Michigan codes and standards enterprise advocated actively in Article 708 Critical Operations Power Systems (COPS) of the National Electrical Code (NEC) because of the elevated likelihood that the education facility industry managed assets that were likely candidates for designation critical operations areas by emergency management authorities.

Because the NEC is incorporated by reference into most state and local electrical safety laws, it saw the possibility that some colleges and universities — particularly large research universities with independent power plants, telecommunications systems and large hospitals  — would be on the receiving end of an unfunded mandate.   Many education facilities are identified by the Federal Emergency Management Association as community storm shelters, for example.

As managers of publicly owned assets, University of Michigan Plant Operations had no objection to rising to the challenge of using publicly owned education facilities for emergency preparedness and disaster recovery operations; only that meeting the power system reliability requirements to the emergency management command centers would likely cost more than anyone imagined — especially at the University Hospital and the Public Safety Department facilities.  Budgets would have to be prepared to make critical operations power systems (COPS) resistant to fire and flood damages; for example.

Collaboration with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Industrial Applications Society began shortly after the release of the 2007 NEC.  Engineering studies were undertaken, papers were published (see links below) and the inspiration for the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee developed to provide a gathering place for power, telecommunication and energy professionals to discover and promulgate leading practice.   That committee is now formally a part of IEEE and collaborates with IAS/PES JTCC assigned the task of harmonizing NFPA and IEEE electrical safety and sustainability consensus documents (codes, standards, guidelines and recommended practices.

Transcripts of 2029 Revision:

Not posted yet as of October 28, 2026

Transcripts of 2026 Revision:

Public Input Report CMP-13

Public Comment Report CMP-13

The transcript of NEC Code Making Panel 13 — the committee that revises COPS Article 708 every three years — is linked below:

NEC CMP-13 First Draft Balloting

NEC CMP-13 Second Draft Balloting

The 2023 Edition of the National Electrical Code does not contain revisions that affect #TotalCostofOwnership — only refinement of wiring installation practices when COPS are built integral to an existing building that will likely raise cost.  There are several dissenting comments to this effect and they all dissent because of cost.   Familiar battles over overcurrent coordination persist.

Our papers and proposals regarding Article 708 track a concern for power system reliability — and the lack of power  — as an inherent safety hazard.   These proposals are routinely rejected by incumbent stakeholders on NEC technical panels who do not agree that lack of power is a safety hazard.  Even if lack of power is not a safety hazard, reliability requirements do not belong in an electrical wiring installation code developed largely by electricians and fire safety inspectors.  The IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee (IEEE E&H) maintains a database on campus power outages; similar to the database used by the IEEE 1366 committees that develop reliability indices to enlighten public utility reliability regulations.

Public input on the 2026 revision to the NEC will be received until September 7th.  We have reserved a workspace for our priorities in the link below:

2026 National Electrical Code Workspace

Colleagues: Robert Arno, Neal Dowling, Jim Harvey

LEARN MORE:

IEEE | Critical Operations Power Systems: Improving Risk Assessment in Emergency Facilities with Reliability Engineering

Consuting-Specifying Engineer | Risk Assessments for Critical Operations Power Systems

Electrical Construction & Maintenance | Critical Operations Power Systems

International City County Management Association | Critical Operations Power Systems: Success of the Imagination

Facilities Manager | Critical Operations Power Systems: The Generator in Your Backyard

“Whatever It Is, I’m Against It”

October 27, 2026
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A Proposed Data Center Campus for Wisconsin Rapids

The rapid growth of data centers presents genuine challenges to electric power systems: very large concentrated loads, accelerated interconnection schedules, new transmission requirements and concern over who ultimately pays for the necessary infrastructure. These problems deserve careful attention, but they are fundamentally engineering problems — and therefore problems capable of engineering solutions.

Electrical power systems have repeatedly adapted to new classes of load. Electrification of industry, air conditioning, electric heating and large computing facilities each altered planning assumptions in their time. Data centers will do the same.

Power engineers are already developing better methods for load forecasting, staged interconnection, demand response, energy storage, on-site generation and microgrids. Data centers themselves can become more flexible loads, reducing consumption during stressed grid conditions rather than operating continuously at maximum demand. Improved transmission planning, advanced protection and controls and better coordination between utilities, system operators and large customers will further reduce adverse effects.

The present difficulties should therefore not be mistaken for permanent conditions. Engineering practice evolves when operating experience reveals new constraints. The extraordinary concentration of electrical demand created by artificial intelligence will test the grid, but it will also accelerate improvements in how large loads are designed, connected, controlled and supplied.

How Stupid Would It Be to Put Data Centers in Space? 

Riding the orbital data center wave

SpaceX and Google Are in Talks to Launch Data Centers in Orbit

Community Impact Strategies for Data Centers

1. Build vertically — Stack rack “white space” across three to five floors, including one or two below grade, to reduce building footprint and land consumption.

2. Make architecture an asset — Treat the exterior as an architectural statement appropriate to its community rather than as an anonymous industrial enclosure.

3. Support municipal infrastructure — Design electrical and standby-generation capacity to support critical municipal loads, including water and wastewater systems during major regional contingencies.

4. Co-locate emergency management functions — Provide space and resilient infrastructure for local or regional emergency management operations.

5. Provide community swing space — Incorporate adaptable space that can support sports, recreation and other community uses when not required for primary facility operations.

A data center need not be only a data center.A very large, extraordinarily well-powered and resilient building can return some of that resilience to the community hosting it.

International Zoning Code

Electricity

Electric Service Metering & Billing

Natural Gas

Natural Gas Transmission & Distribution

Traffic

7th Edition (2018): Geometric Design of Highways & Streets

Water

Standards March: Water

Noise

“Backup” Power Systems

Taxation

Tax-Free Bonds

Security

Secure perimeter management

 

Relata:

Dr. Gad Saad Named Global Ambassador for The Northwood Idea and Visiting Professor

Gad Saad (Northwood University Michigan) & Jordan Peterson (University of Toronto) discuss the intellectual intransigence in education settlements

The $7 Billion Stargate “Barn”

Virtual Gross Anatomy Lab

October 27, 2026
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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“The Halloween Problem” | Recursive Self-Improvement

October 27, 2026
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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A well-intentioned query and the Halloween Problem

Anne Fitzpatrick

 

Abstract:  The author’s description of the Halloween Problem demonstrates the role of cautionary tales in the history of computing. The Halloween Problem emerged in the context of structured query language optimization in relational database research. Normally, a query optimizer works by measuring system calls and paging requests and applying heuristics to the entire access path tree. Query optimization was one of the most challenging tasks facing System R researchers at IBM. These experiments with query optimization form the milieu in which the Halloween Problem emerged.

The Halloween Problem arose in early database systems when an operation changed the very data being used to determine what should happen next, allowing altered records to re-enter the decision process. The problem offers a useful analogy for increasingly capable artificial intelligence. An autonomous system may observe its environment, act upon it, change the conditions it subsequently observes and then act again. At the frontier lies recursive self-improvement: systems capable of modifying their own software, tools or decision processes. The enduring engineering question is deceptively simple: What happens when a system can change the conditions governing its own decisions?

Relata:

Self-Referential Introspection in Large Language Models: The Critical Threshold for Recursive Self-Improvement

Performative Prediction

mac ‘n’ cheese

October 26, 2026
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Standards Indiana

Capital Planning & Facilities LIVE Construction Cameras

 

Indiana

 

“Goddess of Cheese” | Echochernik

Milk

 

Anatomical Donation

October 26, 2026
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Anatomical donation programs are supported by relatively stable best practice literature that are highly cross-referencing.  The organ donation industry grows at a surprising clip and, as such, has its share of sketchy actors.

Our discussion today — at 15:00 UTC– is limited to the safety and sustainability of the support facilities for human cadavers only; with attention to the most recent construction projects.

Images:

Transworld Educare Pune

High Point University

Columbia University

Representative Literature:

University of Michigan

Augusta University

Duke University

Idaho State University

Indiana University

Ohio State University

University of Cambridge

University of Minnesota

University of New England

Vanderbilt University

Relevant Codes & Standards:

ASHRAE International

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

ASTM International

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute

International Code Council

International Building Code

International Mechanical Code

International Plumbing Code

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

National Fire Protection Association

More:

Michigan Public Health Code

County Medical Examiners

American Association for Anatomy

American Association of Tissue Banks

IEEE: Virtual Reality Application in Anatomy Education: A Bibliometric Analysis and Future Direction

Anatomy Meets Architecture: Designing New Laboratories for New Anatomists

National Donor Day: February 14

Join us today at 15:00 UTC.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Refrigeration Systems: Cadaver Preservation

October 26, 2026
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Although specific temperature settings vary, gross anatomy labs are commonly kept at temperatures ranging from 55°F to 65°F (approximately 13°C to 18°C). This range balances the need for specimen preservation and the comfort and safety of individuals working in the lab. The 2024 Edition is widely incorporated by reference into public safety law; design, construction, maintenance operations best practice for laboratory health care occupancies.

ASHRAE 15 Safety Standard for Refrigeration Systems

Purpose:  This standard specifies safe design, construction, installation and operation of refrigeration systems.  It not apply to refrigeration systems using ammonia (R-717) as the refrigerant.

Scope: This standard establishes safeguards for life, limb, health, and property and prescribes safety requirements:

  • Design, construction, test, installation, operation, and inspection of mechanical and absorption refrigeration systems, including heat pump systems used in stationary applications;
  • Modifications including replacement of parts or components if they are not identical in function and capacity; and substitutions of refrigerant having a different designation.

ASHRAE Public Review Drafts

This standard provides safety requirements for refrigeration systems, which are often used in cadaver storage facilities to maintain appropriate temperatures. It includes guidelines on system design, installation, operation, and maintenance to ensure safe and reliable performance.  Student gross anatomy labs are typically kept at lower temperatures. Maintaining a cooler environment in these labs is important for several reasons:

  1. Preservation of Specimens: Lower temperatures help preserve cadavers and anatomical specimens by slowing down the decomposition process. This is crucial for maintaining the quality and usability of the specimens over extended periods.
  2. Control of Odors: Cooler temperatures can help minimize the release of odors from the preservation chemicals used, such as formaldehyde, which can be unpleasant and potentially harmful in higher concentrations.
  3. Health and Safety: Maintaining a lower temperature can reduce the volatilization of formaldehyde and other chemicals, thereby lowering the concentration of potentially harmful vapors in the air. This contributes to a safer environment for students and faculty.
  4. Comfort during Lab Sessions: Students and instructors often wear protective clothing, including lab coats and gloves, which can be uncomfortable in warmer environments. A cooler lab helps ensure comfort during extended periods of study and dissection.

While the specific temperature settings can vary, gross anatomy labs are commonly kept at temperatures ranging from 55°F to 65°F (approximately 13°C to 18°C). This range balances the need for specimen preservation and the comfort and safety of individuals working in the lab.

University of Michigan Mechanical Design Guidelines and General Specifications

Health 400 | OB-GYN

October 26, 2026
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National Center for Health Statistics: Birth Data Files

From Cheerleader & Footballer To Pregnant at 15

Jordan Peterson: Accidental Childlessness, The Epidemic That Dare Not Speak Its Name

REDDIT: An estimated 1/3 of all GenZ were aborted

MOMS.GOV

Today we break down the stack of regulations, codes, standards and open-source literature governing the safety and sustainability of university-affiliated medical research and healthcare delivery facilities.  Because of the complexity of the topic we break down our coverage:

Health 200.   Survey of all relevant codes, standards, guidelines and recommended practices for healthcare settings.

Health 400.  All of the above with special consideration needed for obstetrics, gynecological and neonatal clinical practice and research.

We limit our interest to systems — water, power, telecommunication and security; for example — that are unique to campus-configured, city-within-city risk aggregations.  Electrotechnologies (voltage stability, static electricity control, radio-interference, etc.) in these enterprises are subtle, complex and high risk.  Sample titles from legacy best practice literature in this domain are listed below:

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: Levels of Maternal Care

Provision of Care, Treatment, and Services standards for maternal safety

Since our interest lies in the habitable spaces for these enterprises we usually start with a scan of the following titles:

International Building Code Section 407 (Institutional Group I-2) identifies requirements specific to healthcare settings, covering aspects such as fire safety, means of egress, and smoke compartments. Maternity and obstetric facilities within hospitals fall under this classification.

K-TAG Matrix for Healthcare Facilities

NFPA 70 National Electrical Code Article 517

NFPA 99 Healthcare Facilities Code

NFPA 101 Life Safety Code Chapters 18 & 19

ASHRAE 170 Ventilation of Healthcare Facilities

ASHRAE 189.3: Design, Construction and Operation of Sustainable High Performance Health Care Facilities

Relevant Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers research

Towards Deeper Neural Networks for Neonatal Seizure Detection

A System to Provide Primary Maternity Healthcare Services in Developing Countries

Deep Learning for Continuous Electronic Fetal Monitoring in Labor

Reorganizing of University Hospital of Oran’s operating theatre: Simulation approach

Finally, we collaborate with the IEEE E&H Committee on the following IEC committee projects from IEC/TC 62 Electrical equipment in medical practice:

– Common aspects of electrical equipment used in diagnostic imaging equipment

– Equipment for radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and radiation dosimetry

– Electromedical equipment for neonatal care

 

More

Doula International

A relatively new publisher of related standards is the Facility Guidelines Institute.  We are monitoring its catalog and its processes.  The healthcare facility industry is likely large enough for another non-profit but we have yet to see meaningful leading practice discovery and promulgation that is unrelated to the literature that is already out there.

Journal of Healthcare Management Standards: Operational Resilience of Hospital Power Systems in the Digital Age

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Health care cost as percentage of Gross Domestic Product for six representative nations.

Association of Academic Health Centers

International Conference on Harmonization: The ICH guidelines provide guidance on the development of pharmaceuticals and related substances, including clinical trials, drug safety, and efficacy.

Animal Welfare Act and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

Good Laboratory Practice: GLP is a set of principles that ensure the quality and integrity of non-clinical laboratory studies. It ensures that data generated from non-clinical laboratory studies are reliable, valid, and accurate.

International Code Council Representation of Interests

University of Chicago

Neonatal Care Units

Graduation, Dating, Engagements, Weddings, Births & Obituaries

October 26, 2026
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Image

 

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.”

— George Santayana

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

— Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, trans. Constance Garnett



‘In the end, it is character that decides . things, not intellect alone.’ (C.P. Snow, ‘The Masters’, 1951)


Michigan State University

t5rtrtr

Weddings

 



Nine years later and first day as husband and wife they got to finally sneak a kiss in one of the first places they ever passed notes

Hun School Of Princeton

“…I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” –W.B. Yeats | ‘He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven’

“Nature’s Masterpiece”

Several colleges and universities have “kissing benches” or similar traditions tied to romance on campus.

Michigan State University Beaumont Tower: Nick and Myra Kanillopoulos

Syracuse University. Kissing Bench: This bench on the Quad is steeped in tradition. Legend has it that if a couple kisses on the bench, they will eventually marry. Conversely, if a single person sits there alone, they risk staying single forever.

University of Idaho.  Hello Walk and Kissing Rock: While not a bench, this area on campus features a large rock where students have historically kissed. It’s a romantic tradition for couples at the university.

Florida State University Kissing Bench

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Clemson University Lover’s Lane

Illinois State University

University of Cambridge: St. John’s College Bridge of Sighs

University of Oxford: The Bridge of Sighs

University of Bath Somerset County: Sham Castle

Weddings

 

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