NOAA National Weather Service: Storm Total Maps and Verification
ASCE Codes & Standards Catalog
Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee
Code and Standards Open for Comment
Public Comment for ASCE/EWRI 78-XX Guidelines for the Physical Security of Water and Wastewater/Stormwater Utilities (Comment Deadline 12/18/2023)
America’s Infrastructure Score: C-
CLICK IMAGE
University of Bath: Department of Estates
*After the Roman period, Bath remained a small town until the 18th century, when it became a fashionable spa destination for the wealthy. The architect John Wood the Elder designed much of the city’s Georgian architecture, including the famous Royal Crescent and the Circus. Bath also played an important role in the English literary scene, as several famous authors, including Jane Austen, lived and wrote in the city. During the 19th century, Bath’s popularity declined as other spa towns became fashionable. In the 20th century, the city experienced significant redevelopment and preservation efforts, including the restoration of its Roman baths and the construction of a new spa complex.
Today, Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular tourist destination known for its historical and cultural significance.
In the United States, land surveying is regulated by various professional organizations and government agencies, and there are several technical standards that must be followed to ensure accuracy and consistency in land surveying.
The best practice for land surveying is set by the “Manual of Surveying Instructions” published by an administrative division of the United States Department of the Interior responsible for managing public lands in the United States. The manual provides detailed guidance on the procedures and techniques for conducting various types of land surveys, including public land surveys, mineral surveys, and cadastral surveys.
George Washington, Surveyor of Western Virginia
Manual of Surveying Instructions
Another important set of model standards for land surveying is the Minimum Standards for Property Boundary Surveys* published by the National Society of Professional Surveyors. These standards provide guidance on the procedures and techniques for conducting property boundary surveys, including the use of appropriate surveying equipment, the preparation of surveying maps and plats, and the documentation of surveying results. Land surveyors in the United States are also required to adhere to state and local laws and regulations governing land surveying, as well as ethical standards established by professional organizations such as the American Society of Civil Engineers.
* Local variants
California: Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys
Michigan: Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys
The Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 granted each state 30,000 acres of federal land for each member of Congress from that state to establish colleges that would teach agriculture, engineering, and military tactics. This legislation led to the establishment of many public universities, including the Texas A&M University, the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University.
2025 Group B Proposed Changes to IZC | Complete Monograph for Changes to I-Codes (2630 pages)
National Association of County Engineers
The purpose of the code is to establish minimum requirements to provide a reasonable level of health, safety, property protection and welfare by controlling the design, location, use or occupancy of all buildings and structures through the regulated and orderly development of land and land uses within this jurisdiction.
CLICK IMAGE
Municipalities usually have specific land use or zoning considerations to accommodate the unique needs and characteristics of college towns:
This is a relatively new title in the International Code Council catalog; revised every three years in the Group B tranche of titles. Search on character strings such as “zoning” in the link below reveals the ideas that ran through the current revision:
Complete Monograph: 2022 Proposed Changes to Group B I-Codes (1971 pages)
We maintain it on our periodic I-Codes colloquia, open to everyone. Proposals for the 2026 revision will be received until January 10, 2025.
2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE
We maintain it on our periodic I-Codes colloquia, open to everyone with the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
The City Rises (La città che sale) | 1910 Umberto Boccioni
Related:
2024 Update to ASHRAE Position Statements
List of Titles, Scopes and Purposes of the ASHRAE Catalog
The parent title of this standard is ASHRAE Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings and is continually under revision; frequently appearing in electrical engineering design guidelines, construction specifications, commissioning and O&M titles in our industry and others.
ASHRAE 90.4 defines an alternate compliance path, specific to data centers, while the compliance requirements for “non-data center” components are contained in ASHRAE 90.1 . The 90.4 structure also streamlines the ongoing maintenance process as well ensures that Standards 90.1 and 90.4 stay in their respective lanes to avoid any overlap and redundancies relating to the technical and administrative boundaries. Updates to ASHRAE 90.1 will still include the alternate compliance path defined in ASHRAE 90.4. Conversely the 2022 Edition of 90.4-2022 refers to ASHRAE 90.1-2022; cross-referencing one another synchronously
Links to noteworthy coverage from expert agencies on the 2022 revisions:
HPC Data Center Cooling Design Considerations
ASHRAE standard 90.4 updates emphasize green energy
ASHRAE updated its standard for data centers
How to Design a Data Center Cooling System for ASHRAE 90.4
Designing a Data Center with Computer Software Modeling
This title resides on the standing agenda of our Infotech 400 colloquium; hosted several times per year and as close coupled with the annual meetings of ASHRAE International as possible. Technical committees generally meet during these meetings make decisions about the ASHRAE catalog. The next all committee conference will be hosted January 20-24, 2024 in Chicago. As always we encourage education industry facility managers, energy conservation workgroups and sustainability professionals to participate directly in the ASHRAE consensus standard development process. It is one of the better facilities out there.
Start at ASHRAE’s public commenting facility:
Online Standards Actions & Public Review Drafts
Update: May 30, 2023
Proposed Addendum g makes changes to definitions were modified in section 3 and mandatory language in Section 6 to support the regulation of process heat and process ventilation was moved in the section for clarity. Other changes are added based on comments from the first public review including changes to informative notes.
Consultation closes June 4th
Update: February 10, 2023
The most actively managed consensus standard for data center energy supply operating in education communities (and most others) is not published by the IEEE but rather by ASHRAE International — ASHRAE 90.4 Energy Standard for Data Centers (2019). It is not required to be a free access title although anyone may participate in its development. It is copyrighted and ready for purchase but, for our purpose here, we need only examine its scope and purpose. A superceded version of 90.4 is available in the link below:
Third ISC Public Review Draft (January 2016)
Noteworthy: The heavy dependence on IEEE power chain standards as seen in the Appendix and Chapter 8. Recent errata are linked below:
We provide the foregoing links for a deeper dive “into the weeds”. Another addendum has been released for consultation; largely administrative:
ASHRAE 90.4 | Pages 60-61 | Consultation closes January 15, 2023.
It is likely that the technical committee charged with updating this standard are already at work preparing an updated version that will supercede the 2019 Edition. CLICK HERE for a listing of Project Committee Interim Meetings.
We maintain many titles from the ASHRAE catalog on the standing agenda of our Mechanical, Energy 200/400, Data and Cloud teleconferences. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
Originally posted Summer 2020.
ASHRAE International has released four new addenda to its energy conservation consensus document ASHRAE 90.4-2016 Energy Standard for Data Centers. This document establishes the minimum energy efficiency requirements of data centers for design and construction, for the creation of a plan for operation and maintenance and for utilization of on-site or off-site renewable energy resources.
It is a relatively new document more fully explained in an article published by ASHRAE in 2016 (Click here). The addenda described briefly:
Addendum a – clarifies existing requirements in Section 6.5 as well as introduce new provisions to encourage heat recovery within data centers.
Addendum b – clarifies existing requirements in Sections 6 and 11 and to provide guidance for taking credit for renewable energy systems.
Addendum d – a response to a Request for Interpretation on the 90.4 consideration of DieselRotary UPS Systems (DRUPS) and the corresponding accounting of these systems in the Electrical Loss Component (ELC). In crafting the IC, the committee also identified several marginal changes to 90.4 definitions and passages in Section 8 that would add further clarity to the issue. This addendum contains the proposed changes for that aim as well as other minor changes to correct spelling or text errors, incorporate the latest ELC values into Section 11, and to refresh information in the Normative Reference.
Addendum e adds language to Section 11 intended to clarify how compliance with Standard 90.4 can be achieved through the use of shared systems.
Comments are due September 6th. Until this deadline you may review the changes and comment upon them by by CLICKING HERE
Universitat de Barcelona
Education facility managers, energy conservation workgroups and sustainability professionals are encouraged to participate directly in the ASHRAE standard development process. Start at ASHRAE’s public commenting facility:
Online Standards Actions & Public Review Drafts
The ASHRAE catalog is a priority title in our practice. This title appears on the standing agenda of our Infotech sessions. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
Issue: [12-54]
Category: Telecommunications, Infotech, Energy
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Robert G. Arno, Neal Dowling, Jim Harvey, Mike Hiler, Robert Schuerger, Larry Spielvogel
Complete Monograph: 2024 GROUP A PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE I-CODES
“The Bathing Pool” | Hubert Robert (1733–1808)
CLICK IMAGE to access complete text
Design Considerations for Hot Water Plumbing
Baseline Standards for Student Housing
2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE
Indoor plumbing has a long history, but it became widely available in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the United States, for example, the first indoor plumbing system was installed in the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia in the early 18th century. However, it was not until the mid-19th century that indoor plumbing became more common in middle-class homes.
One important milestone was the development of cast iron pipes in the 19th century, which made it easier to transport water and waste throughout a building. The introduction of the flush toilet in the mid-19th century also played a significant role in making indoor plumbing more practical and sanitary.
By the early 20th century, indoor plumbing had become a standard feature in most middle-class homes in the United States and other developed countries. However, it was still not widely available in rural areas and poorer urban neighborhoods until much later.
ENR (December 7, 2023) University of Michigan Signs P3 for $631M Student Housing Project
Harvard University Dormitory Room | Smithsonian Museum | Thomas Warren Sears Collection
Today we break down public consultation notices for literature that sets the standard of care for the safety and sustainability of student housing in K-12 prep schools, colleges and universities. We deal with off-campus housing in a separate session because it involves local safety and sustainability regulations; most of which are derived from residential housing codes and standards.
The topic cuts across many disciplines and standards setting organization bibliographies. We usually set our bearing with the following titles:
2021 International Building Code: Section 310 Residential Group R-2 + related titles such as the IFC, IMC, IPC, IECC
2021 Fire Code: Chapter 6 Classification of Occupancy + related titles such as NFPA 70B, NFPA 72 and NFPA 110
2023 National Electrical Code: Articles 210-230 + related Articles 110 and 410
ASHRAE 90.1 Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings: Annex G
Like any other classification of real property the average cost for room and board for a public university student dormitory depends on several factors such as the location of the university, the type of dormitory, and the meal plan options. According to the College Board, the average cost of room and board for the 2021-2022 academic year at a public four-year in-state institution was $11,620. However, this figure can range from around $7,000 to $16,000 or more depending on the specific institution and its location. It’s important to note that this average cost only includes the basic meal plan and standard dormitory room. Students may also have additional costs for a larger or more luxurious dorm room, a premium meal plan, or other expenses such as laundry or parking fees.
According to ring Rider Levett Bucknall, a global property and construction consultancy firm, the average construction cost for a student housing facility in the United States in 2021 was around $202 per square foot. However, this figure can range from around $150 to $300 per square foot or more depending on the specific project. Life cycle cost for new facilities with tricked out net-zero gadgets is hard to come by at the moment.
Because money flows freely through this domain we examine scalable densities and the nature of money flow patterns; partially tracked by the Electronic Municipal Market Access always on the standing agenda of our Finance colloquium.
More
National Institute of Standards & Technology: The Character of Residential Cooktop Fires
Deserted College Dorms Sow Trouble for $14 Billion in Muni Bonds
Here are a few pros and cons of private sector construction of university-owned student housing:
Pros:
Cons:
It’s important to note that these pros and cons may vary depending on the specific circumstances and context of each individual university and private sector partnership.
Statement on the Electric Vehicle Zietgeist
University of Michigan Campus Transportation Master Plan
Die Fachhochschule Wedel bei Hamburg
The Invention of the Wheel – The Journey to Civilization
Today we amble through the literature providing policy templates informing school district, college and university-affiliated transportation and parking facilities and systems. Starting 2024 we will break up our coverage thus:
Mobility 100 (Survey of both ground and air transportation instructional and research facilities)
Mobility 200 (Ground Transportation)
Police officer asks little girl for driver’s license.pic.twitter.com/8gVBiJNZiV
— The Figen (@TheFigen_) February 6, 2025
Mobility 300 (Air Transportation)
Mobility 400 (Reserved for zoning, parking space allocation and enforcement, and issues related to one of the most troublesome conditions in educational settlements)
Today’s session will be the last when we cover both land and air transportation codes, standards, guidelines and the regulations that depend upon all them. We will break out space and aerospace mobility into a separate session — largely because many universities are tooling up square footage and facilities in anticipation of research grants.
Public consultation originates from the following organizations:
International Electrotechnical Commission
International Organization for Standardization
Intelligent Transport Systems
Road Vehicles
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
Intelligent Transportation Systems Society
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE International)
Like many SDO’s the SAE makes it very easy to purchase a standard but makes it very difficulty to find a draft standard open for public review. It is not an open process; one must apply to comment on a draft standard. Moreover, its programmers persist in playing “keep away” with landing pages.
Technical Standards for Road Vehicles and Intelligent Vehicle Systems
International Code Council
National Fire Protection Association
Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals
International Light Transportation Vehicle Association
Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Accreditation Commission
Noteworthy:
The public school bus system in the United States is the largest public transit system in the United States. According to the American School Bus Council, approximately 25 million students in the United States ride school buses to and from school each day, which is more than twice the number of passengers that use all other forms of public transportation combined.
The school bus system is considered a public transit system because it is operated by public schools and school districts, and provides a form of transportation that is funded by taxpayers and available to the general public. The school bus system also plays a critical role in ensuring that students have access to education, particularly in rural and low-income areas where transportation options may be limited.
Something is always happening in this domain:
A Quiet Rollout: Electric Scooters on Campus
Notre Dame Police Department shares gameday parking restrictions, tips
Electric School Bus Market Size, Industry Share, Analysis, Report and Forecast 2022-2027
Non profit associations proliferate:
American School Bus Council
American Bus Association
Campus Parking and Transportation Association
National Association for Pupil Transportation
National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services
National School Transportation Association
School Bus Manufacturers Association
…and 50-state spinoffs of the foregoing. (See our ABOUT for further discussion of education industry non-profit associations)
There are several ad hoc consortia in this domain also; which include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Charging specifications are at least temporarily “stable”; though who should pay for the charging infrastructure in the long run is a debate we have tracked for several revision cycles in building and fire codes.
Because incumbents are leading the electromobility transformation, and incumbents have deep pockets for market-making despite the “jankiness” of the US power grid, we can track some (not all) legislation action, and prospective public comment opportunities. For example:
Keep in mind that even though proposed legislation is sun-setted in a previous (116th) Congress, the concepts may be carried forward into the following Congress (117th).
Public consultations on mobility technologies relevant to the education facility industry are also covered by the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets 4 times monthly in European and American time zones.
This topic is growing rapidly and it may well be that we will have to break it up into more manageable pieces. For the moment, today’s colloquium is open to everyone. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.
The West Virginia University PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) system is a unique and innovative form of public transportation that serves the WVU campus and the city of Morgantown, West Virginia. The PRT system consists of a series of automated, driverless vehicles that operate on an elevated track network, providing fast and convenient transportation to key destinations on and around the WVU campus.
The PRT system was first developed in the 1970s as a solution to the growing traffic congestion and parking demand on the WVU campus. The system was designed to be efficient, reliable, and environmentally friendly, and to provide a high-tech, futuristic mode of transportation that would appeal to students and visitors.
The PRT system currently operates five different stations, with stops at key campus locations such as the Mountainlair Student Union, the Engineering Research Building, and the Health Sciences Center. The system is free for all WVU students, faculty, and staff, and also offers a low-cost fare for members of the general public.
The PRT system has been recognized as one of the most advanced and innovative public transportation systems in the world, and has won numerous awards for its design, efficiency, and environmental sustainability. It has also become an iconic symbol of the WVU campus, and is often featured in promotional materials and advertising campaigns for the university.
More
Federal Transit Administration
West Virginia Department of Education: School Transportation
“Evaluation of the West Virginia University Personal Rapid Transit System” | A. Katz and A. Finkelstein (Journal of Transportation Engineering, 1987) This paper evaluates the technical and operational performance of the WVU PRT system based on data collected over a six-year period. The authors identify several issues with the system, including maintenance problems, limited capacity, and difficulties with vehicle docking and undocking.
“Modeling of the West Virginia University Personal Rapid Transit System” by J. Schroeder and C. Wilson (Transportation Research Record, 2002) This paper presents a mathematical model of the WVU PRT system that can be used to analyze its performance and identify potential improvements. The authors use the model to evaluate the impact of various factors, such as station dwell time and vehicle capacity, on the system’s overall performance.
“Evaluating the Effectiveness of Personal Rapid Transit: A Case Study of the West Virginia University System” by K. Fitzpatrick, M. Montufar, and K. Schreffler (Journal of Transportation Technologies, 2013) This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the WVU PRT system based on a survey of users and non-users. The authors identify several challenges facing the system, including low ridership, reliability issues, and high operating costs.
Association for Commuter Transportation: Accreditation Standards
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
Standards Michigan Group, LLC
2723 South State Street | Suite 150
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA
888-746-3670
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
