Gallery: School Bond Referenda

Loading
loading...

Gallery: School Bond Referenda

July 30, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
, , ,
No Comments

In terms of total spend, the US elementary and secondary school industry is about twice the size of the higher education industry according to IBISWorld. About $100 billion is in play every year for both (which we cover during our Ædificare colloquia); with higher education spending only half of what elementary and secondary school systems spend on facilities.

Note that some districts are including construction for faculty housing.

Our focus remains on applying global standard to create educational settlements that are safer, simpler, lower-cost and longer-lasting — not on the hurly-burly of local school bond elections.  We recommend consulting the coverage in American School & University for more detailed and more timely information.




Electrical Power Reliability

July 29, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
No Comments

P(A)

Today at the usual hour we introduce the project which will require harvesting power reliability statistics from any and all educational settlements willing to share their data.  As the links before demonstrate, we have worked in this domain for many years.  Join us with the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Types of Probability Distribution & Representative Calculation

SDC3006_Power_System_Reliability_WG_Minutes_2024-05-20

WG Meeting Agenda August 2024_final


Indiana University Internet Archive: “A Mathematical Theory of Reliability” by Richard E. Barlow and Frank Proschan (1965)

This paper introduced the concept of reliability theory and established a mathematical framework for analyzing system reliability in terms of lumped parameters. It defined important concepts such as coherent systems, minimal cut sets, and minimal path sets, which are still widely used in reliability engineering.

IEEE Recommended Practice for the Design of Reliable Industrial and Commercial Power Systems

“Railroad Sunset” | Edward Hopper

We are tooling up to update the failure rate tables of IEEE 493 Design of Reliable Industrial and Commercial Power Systems; collaborating with project leaders but contributing to an essential part of the data design engineers use for scaling their power system designs.  The project is in its early stages.  We are formulating approaches about how to gather data for assemble a statistically significant data set.

Today at the usual hour we introduce the project which will require harvesting power reliability statistics from any and all educational settlements willing to share their data.  As the links before demonstrate, we have worked in this domain for many years.

Join us with the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

 

2017 National Electrical Code § 110.5

2028 National Electrical Safety Code

Reliability Analysis for Power to Fire Pumps

Interoperability of Distributed Energy Resources


“On the Mathematical Theory of Risk and Some Problems in Distribution-Free Statistics” by Frank Proschan (1963): This paper introduced the concept of increasing failure rate (IFR) and decreasing failure rate (DFR) distributions, which are crucial in reliability modeling and analysis.

“Reliability Models for Multiple Failures in Redundant Systems” by John F. Meyer (1965): This paper addressed the problem of reliability analysis for redundant systems, which are systems with multiple components designed to provide backup in case of failure.

“Reliability of Systems in Series and in Parallel” by A. T. Bharucha-Reid (1960): This work analyzed the reliability of systems composed of components arranged in series and parallel configurations, which are fundamental building blocks of more complex systems.

“A Stochastic Model for the Reliability of Modular Software Systems” by John E. Gaffney, Jr. and Thomas A. Dueck (1980): This paper introduced one of the earliest models for software reliability, extending the concepts of reliability theory to the field of software engineering.

“Redundancy Techniques for Computing Systems” by John von Neumann (1956): This report by the pioneering computer scientist John von Neumann explored the use of redundancy techniques, such as triple modular redundancy, to improve the reliability of computing systems.

Open for Comment: Types of Reliability Probability Distributions

Acceptable Performance Standard for District Cooling Systems

July 29, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
No Comments

Standards Actions | July 2024

Thermal load on large campus power systems interact with electrical energy systems.  We track ASHRAE 245P described below:

PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFT 

District Cooling

Critical Operations Power Systems

July 29, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
, ,
No Comments

Disaster 500


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 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

Electrical Training Alliance

July 29, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
No Comments

Electrical Training Alliance | IBEW & NECA

For as along as the University of Michigan has held a position on the National Electrical Code, new generations of tradespeople have come to Ann Arbor to receive training and credentialling in the electrical trades.  Originally the National Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee and hosted at several facilities on the UM campus in 1992 the event has expanded to require space at nearby Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University.

FYI: Work Session on Aluminum Wiring (August 2015)

August 14, 2003

July 29, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
, , , , ,
No Comments

“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

Human Resources 100

July 28, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
,
No Comments

Office in a Small City 1953 Edward Hopper

 

“Choose a job you love,

and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Kong Fuzi, Confucius

 

Today we dwell on titles that inform management of the education industry in the United States specifically; but also more generally in global markets where the education industry is classified as a Producer and a User of human resources.  It is an enormous domain; likely the largest.

Human Resources 100 covers skilled trade training in all building construction disciplines.

Vocational Education Act of 1917, or Smith-Hughes Act of 1917

February: Association for Career and Technical Education | #CTEMonth

Human Resources 200 covers the range of skills needed to manage the real assets of educational settings — school district properties, college and university campuses

Human Resources 300 covers higher level management of these settings.  (Representative Organization Charts)

Human Resources 500 covers everything else

Human Resources 500

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

Engineering a Fair Future: Why we need to train unbiased AI

Recommended Reading:

“The Human Side of Enterprise” 1960 by Douglas McGregor | MIT Management Sloan School

University of Chicago Press: Readings in Managerial Psychology

I've searched all the parks in all the cities - and found no statues of Committees. - Gilbert K. Chesterton

 

More

Lee Webster

Virginia Commonwealth University: “Self Reliance” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Paris Review: The Myth of Self-Reliance

Using ANSI Human Resource Standards to Create Business Advantage in the Workplace

Colleges and Organizational Structure of Universities

Apprenticeships: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice

“Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber” James Damore

 

Human Resource Management

July 28, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
, , ,
No Comments

“The best men are molded out of faults”
— William Shakespeare

Famous People Discussing the Divine Comedy with Dante | CLICK ON IMAGE

The American National Standards Institute  is the Global Secretariat for ISO Technical Committee 260 (ISO/TC 260); organized to develop policy templates for standardization solutions that improve management of the workforce in any nation; in any sector or industry.   These human resource management standards offer broad, evidence-based guidance to individuals with people management responsibilities, whether formally or informally assigned, in organizations for the benefit of both internal and external stakeholders.

Gleaned from inputs from human resource experts globally, these products are designed to provide guidance on key HR functions in support of its workforce and its management, and sustainable organizational performance.   TC/260  is focused on the following tasks:

• Ensuring wide market relevance of its HRM standards.
• Facilitating international business.
• Providing guidance on professional standards of practice.
• Facilitating measurement, comparability and consistency of HR practice with the aim of transparent benchmarking.
• Improving internal processes.
• Enabling organizations to better achieve optimal organizational outcomes with improved management of human capital

The business plan is linked below:

STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN ISO/TC 260: Human Resource Management 2018/19 (3rd edition)

 

The original University of Michigan user-interest advocacy enterprise was participating member in this project* but that engagement was interrupted suddenly in October 2016 (See ABOUT).  We have since picked up where we left off with the same people collaborating with Standards Michigan.  ANSI remains the global Secretariat.

We maintain this project on the standing agenda of both our Global and our Human Resource colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Issues: [14-99] and [15-52]

Category: Administration & Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Christine Fischer, Lee S. Webster, Richard Robben

ANSI Contacts: Michelle Deane (mdeane@ansi.org)

US TAG Contacts: Lorelei Carobolante, Jim Lewis

*We left off just as the ISO/TS 30411:2018Human resource management-Quality of hire metric (QoH) standard was rolling out.   The QoH was, and still is a performance metric for talent acquisition teams, critical for determining the effectiveness of the recruitment process and has a consequential impact on an organization’s performance.  The QoH structure is intended to be scalable to the needs of any organization regardless of size, industry or sector and is relevant to people with an interest in workforce planning, organizational design and development, talent management succession planning, recruitment, and human capital reporting.  Read more about ISO/TS 30411:2018 on ISO’s news site, and access it on the ANSI Web Store.


More

The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, Max Weber

Materiality of Human Capital Metrics | Lee S. Webster

ISO Focus January 2015 Anthony-Robben – Education Enterprise pp 33-37

ISO Guidelines Help Measure Employees’ Impact on Company Performance

International Labor Organization

Readings / The Administrative State

Layout mode
Predefined Skins
Custom Colors
Choose your skin color
Patterns Background
Images Background
error: Content is protected !!
Skip to content