Free Electronic Access to Codes
2021 Canadian Electrical Code Released
Council for Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standards of the Nations in the Americas
The IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee has completed a chapter on recommended practice for designing, building, operating and maintaining campus exterior lighting systems in the forthcoming IEEE 3001.9 Recommended Practice for the Design of Power Systems for Supplying Commercial and Industrial Lighting Systems; a new IEEE Standards Association title inspired by, and derived from, the legacy “IEEE Red Book“. The entire IEEE Color Book suite is in the process of being replaced by the IEEE 3000 Standards Collection™ which offers faster-moving and more scaleable, guidance to campus power system designers.
Campus exterior lighting systems generally run in the 100 to 10,000 fixture range and are, arguably, the most visible characteristic of public safety infrastructure. Some major research universities have exterior lighting systems that are larger and more complex than cooperative and municipal power company lighting systems which are regulated by public service commissions.
While there has been considerable expertise in developing illumination concepts by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Illumination Engineering Society, the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers, the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Commission on Illumination, none of them contribute to leading practice discovery for the actual power chain for these large scale systems on a college campus. The standard of care has been borrowed, somewhat anecdotally, from public utility community lighting system practice. These concepts need to be revisited as the emergent #SmartCampus takes shape.
Electrical power professionals who service the education and university-affiliated healthcare facility industry should communicate directly with Mike Anthony (maanthon@umich.edu) or Jim Harvey (jharvey@umich.edu). This project is also on the standing agenda of the IEEE E&H committee which meets online 4 times monthly — every other Tuesday — in European and American time zones. Login credentials are available on its draft agenda page.









Issue: [15-199]
Category: Electrical, Public Safety, Architectural, #SmartCampus, Space Planning, Risk Management
Contact: Mike Anthony, Kane Howard, Jim Harvey, Dev Paul, Steven Townsend, Kane Howard
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Is it a fact—or have I dreamed it—that, by means of electricity,
the world of matter has become a great nerve,
vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?
—Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851 | The House of Seven Gables
Today we break form from our normal custom of assessing conceptual movement in stabilized safety and sustainability standards for education settlements and, instead, venture into a domain that will inform nearly everything we do; and with gathering pace.
We begin with the action among the experts in the organizations listed below:
Overall, the U.S. approach to quantum computing standards is multifaceted, involving federal agencies, industry consortia, academic research, and participation in international standard-setting bodies.
Integrative Sciences Initiative: Fostering Cross-Discipline Collaboration at NC State
North Carolina State University Facilities Services
Notification of Open-Ended Contracts 2023-2024
A little spring in our step. 🌸✨ #NCStateOnCampus pic.twitter.com/s5s01TYfOX
— NC State University (@NCState) March 5, 2024
IEC Sustainable mobility systems
Fast and Ultra-Fast Charging for Battery Electric Vehicles – A Review
PT PLN (Persero), Jl. Trunojoyo Blok M I/135 Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta, Indonesia
Kawantech S.A.S, 6 Rue Françoise d’Eaubonne, Toulouse, France
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jalan Ganesha 10, Bandung, Indonesia
Université de Toulouse, Laplace, UMR 5213 (CNRS, INPT, UPS), 118 rte de Narbonne, Toulouse, France
Abstract: With the advent of Solid State Lighting came a renewed interest in the study of flicker. Potential effects include brightness enhancement, but also discomfort, ocular fatigue, phantom and stroboscopic effects. Both IEEE and IEC developed new metrics, but at the time of writing no firm consensus has been reached. Yet previous lamp studies in the Laplace laboratory showed that various flicker phenomenon are present on different lamps, but this feature is not documented. This paper focus on flicker changes w.r.t. applied voltage. The Indonesian power grid network is indeed characterized by large voltage variations; our purpose is to detect which lamps may exhibit too elevated flicker levels during out of nominal excursion and map such behavior with other electrical characteristics.
CLICK HERE to order complete paper
Harmonic Impacts on the Electrical Distribution Network by the Broad Usage of LED Lamps
LED lighting — Reduce the power consumption and increase the users comfort
Peeking Inside the Black-Box_ A Survey on Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)
Amina Adadi & Mohammed Berrada
Ben Abdellah University Morocco
ABSTRACT: At the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution, we are witnessing a fast and widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in our daily life, which contributes to accelerating the shift towards a more algorithmic society. However, even with such unprecedented advancements, a key impediment to the use of AI-based systems is that they often lack transparency. Indeed, the black-box nature of these systems allows powerful predictions, but it cannot be directly explained. This issue has triggered a new debate on explainable AI (XAI). A research field holds substantial promise for improving trust and transparency of AI-based systems. It is recognized as the sine qua non for AI to continue making steady progress without disruption. This survey provides an entry point for interested researchers and practitioners to learn key aspects of the young and rapidly growing body of research related to XAI. Through the lens of the literature, we review the existing approaches regarding the topic, discuss trends surrounding its sphere, and present major research trajectories.
Sample of video coverage sorted by view count:
How does the electrical grid respond to a crisis?
If the power goes out after a thunderstorm, utility crews are on the job within hours to restore service and get the lights back on. Most electric utilities in the U.S. have a reputation for reliability and recovery from situations like this. It has been noticed as planners began thinking about increased natural disasters brought on by population migration patterns, manmade interference due to malicious cyber-attacks, and the instability brought about by adding large quantities of renewable energy.
At North Carolina State University, The Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDOM) Systems Engineering Research Center was created through funding from the National Science Foundation in 2008 to modernize the electrical grid to accommodate sustainable energy, such as wind and solar power. The Freedom Center has been involved in developing online tools for assessing vulnerabilities to address cyber-physical security called distributed grid intelligence. The hope is that smart microgrids with sensors embedded throughout the system might be more resilient to failure and easier to bring back online and large multi-state electric grids. But the emerging smart grid, together with distributed renewable energy such as rooftop solar, presents a new set of challenges to resilience. The Smart Grid involves more distributed energy down to the home level. That kind of penetration adds a level of vulnerability to a cyber threat. Engineers will certainly have to pay attention to that as the grid gets smarter.

Leyden Jar electric energy storage; and early form of a microgrid. CLICK ON IMAGE for more information
The National Electrical Contractors Association develops a suite of consensus standards titled National Electrical Installation Standards (NEIS) that meet the intent of the National Electrical Code (NEC); particularly where the NEC asserts that an installation be constructed in a “neat and workmanlike manner”. The scope of the original undertaking, begun in the early 1990’s with University of Michigan as an early adopter, has since expanded into operation and maintenance standards; and more recently into design, installation, operating and maintaining integrated systems such as microgrids*.
Some electrotechnology professionals struggle with the notion of a “microgrid” — a trendy term of art for an integrated system of interactive and distributed power sources that many large research universities have had for decades in their district energy plant. There are some noteworthy operational differences, however; as a trend toward local power storage accelerates and education facility leaders are under pressure to prove the they have a Smart Grid (even if they already have one). None of the #SmartCampus conceptions for expansion of microgrids into individual buildings, or regions on campuses, will ever pay for themselves we cannot operate and maintain many of them economically (when set against the operational economics of the electrical supply delivered by the university district energy plant). The university-affiliated medical research and healthcare delivery campus may be a proof-point, however.
The NECA documents are used by construction owners, specifiers, contractors and electricians to clearly illustrate the performance and workmanship standards essential for different types of electrical construction. Because the NEC is intended to be primarily a wiring safety standard, the NEIS suite is referenced throughout the National Electrical Code. Electrical shop foremen and front line electricians take note.
Recommended Practice for Designing, Installing, Operating, and Maintaining Microgrids (Redline)
You may obtain an electronic copy from neis@necanet.org. Send comments to Aga Golriz, (301) 215-4549, Aga.golriz@necanet.org with a copy of your comments psa@ansi.org. Because the proposed change is relatively minor editorial/grammatical change, we will not comment on it but encourage other user-interests in the education facilities industry (electric shops, engineering managers, etc.) to at least become familiar with the NECA suite of standards and to incorporate them by reference into their standard practice guides for electrical trades.
NECA Standards and Publication Development Home Page
Our door is open every day at 11 AM for consultation on this and other standards. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page. Additionally, we will refer this to the IEEE Education & Healthcare Committee, which is a subcommittee in the IEEE Industrial Applications Society which follows — and leads — the development of the emergent #SmartCampus. That committee meets online 4 times monthly in European and American time zones. See the IEEE E&H Calendar for date, time and login credentials.
Issue:
Category: Electrical, Energy
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Van Wagner
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NEIS Open Review: Fourth Ballot
NECA SMART GRID: INSTALLATION AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT ASPECTS FOR ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS
US DOE: Smart Grid Demonstration Program
IEEE Standards Association: Microgrids: Back to the Future
*Most seasoned electrical power professionals recognize that many large research universities with district energy systems that generate in parallel with a public utility have, for decades, operated with all the essential characteristics of a microgrid (save for the political “buzz”). On-site power storage for telecommunication and mission critical facilities have been in place for decades; so has back up on-site generation. Scaling these known sources to provide normal power to a single building, or groups of buildings, is an essential difference, however. Electrical engineering expertise and judgement is needed to determine the optimal balance between a smart distributed resource (such as a microgrid) and a central resource from an existing district energy system. An array of microgrids on a large research university campus will have a cost associated with of installing, operating and maintaining them.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwB pic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
— USPTO (@uspto) July 13, 2023
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