These are generally downloads. We are happy to pick through the changes to the Electrical stack depending upon interest.
Left Panel Of George Julian Zolnay’s Allegorical “Academic, Business & Manual Education” Granite Frieze At Francis L. Cardozo High School (Washington, DC)
All fifty United States have their own “signature” disaster with which to reckon; some more than others. California has earthquakes, Florida has hurricanes, Missouri has floods; and so on, Life and property loss are preventable; but losses will persist because technical solutions notwithstanding, culture determines human behavior. It is impossible to be alive and safe.
FM Global is one of several organizations that curate privately developed consensus products that set the standard of care for many industries; education communities among them. These standards contribute to the reduction in the risk of property loss due to fire, weather conditions, and failure of electrical or mechanical equipment. They incorporate nearly 200 years of property loss experience, research and engineering results, as well as input from consensus standards committees, equipment manufacturers and others.
If you want FMGlobal as your insurance carrier, or to supplement your organization’s self-insurance program, then you will likely be assigned an FMGlobal conformity professional.
A scan of its list data sheets indicate a number of noteworthy updates of documents establishing minimum requirements for safety technologies common in education facilities:
Note that the bulk of the safety concepts in the foregoing titles incorporate by reference the safety concepts that cross our radar every day FM Global provides direct access to the full span of its documents at this link:
To respond to calls for public consultation you will need to set up (free) access credentials.
We keep FMGlobal titles — and the literature of other property insurers involved in standards setting — on the standing agenda of our Risk, Snow and Prometheus colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the next meeting.
“Neither party shall be liable for any failure or delay in performance of its obligations under this agreement due to events beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, war, terrorism, civil commotion, labor strikes, and natural disasters. The affected party shall promptly notify the other party of the force majeure event and take reasonable steps to mitigate its impact on performance. During the continuance of such events, the obligations of the affected party shall be suspended, and the time for performance shall be extended.”
Example 2: Detailed Force Majeure Clause
“In the event that either party is unable to perform its obligations under this agreement due to a force majeure event, the affected party shall promptly notify the other party in writing, specifying the nature and anticipated duration of the force majeure event. Force majeure events shall include, but are not limited to, acts of God, strikes, lockouts, government action or inaction, war, terrorism, epidemics, and natural disasters. The affected party shall use reasonable efforts to overcome or mitigate the effects of the force majeure event. If the force majeure event continues for a period of [specified duration], either party may terminate this agreement by providing written notice to the other party.”
The Illumination Engineering Societyis one of the first names in standards-setting organizations with a catalog routinely referenced in design guidelines and construction projects. Because of the money flow into illumination technologies worldwide the IES occupies a domain that is relatively crowded:
National Electrical Manufacturers and Medical Imaging Association; whose interest lies in leveling the playing field for about 300 electrical equipment manufacturers
Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers; whose interest lies in the research activity in seeing sciences, the luminescence sources and the power chain
American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers; whose interest lies in energy conservation
National Fire Protection Association; whose interest lies in fire safety of lighting systems within building premises.
International Code Council; whose interest lies in pulling together all of the relevant standards for lighting egress paths of the built environment
International Electrotechnical Commission; whose interest lies in the administration of global electrical and electronic technologies
International Commission on Illumination; the international authority on light, illumination, colour, and colour spaces
There are others. With illumination power requirement on a downward trajectory where footcandles can be driven at information & communication technology voltage and current levels; we find relatively new entrants into the market with deep pockets and for good reason. In a typical building, the interior lighting load is the major electrical load (on the order of 40 percent) and a major contributor to the functionality of the building. There are a number of other trade associations that are participants in research and open source standards for faster moving parts of the illumination science. We will cover these in future, related posts.
Last year a new standardization project was launched by the IES. From the project prospectus:
IES LP-2-201x, Designing Quality Lighting for People in Outdoor Environments (new standard)
Project Need: This document is not intended to supersede existing IES application RPs, rather it will link the various documents together, augmenting them in subject areas not otherwise covered, including but not limited to sidewalks, bikepaths, pedestrian paths, parks, outdoor malls, pedestrian-only business districts, plazas, amphitheaters, large outdoor gathering areas, campuses, pedestrian bridges, and pedestrian underpasses.
Stakeholders: Lighting practitioners, electrical engineers, civic planners, civil engineers, architects, community-based planning groups, general public. Lighting recommendations for non-vehicular pedestrian applications using recommendations beyond illuminance only, which ultimately fails to provide a complete guideline for the visual experience of pedestrian-based tasks. The RP will be a comprehensive approach for light levels, glare, adaptation, spectrum, and contrast while addressing safety, timing, and perceived security. Application of these recommendations will ultimately enhance the pedestrian’s visual experience while also respecting the environment.
Soon to be released, a related product covering technical specifics of a familiar battleground — lighting controls:
The consultation closed May 24th and the agenda of the committee writing this standard is being administered. Very often technical committees are receptive to new ideas after a comment deadline if those ideas are submitted to a committee member directly. We invite anyone with an interest in this topic to click in to any of our daily colloquia to begin that process.
Not far into the future: individually controlled luminaires responsive to the use of campus pathways. There are already some pilot projects on higher education campuses.
A few other technical committees relevant to educational communities should be identified, though we will sort through the standards setting activity in separate posts:
We always encourage direct participation by space planners, workpoint experts and academic unit facility managers in IES standards development process. Contact: Patricia McGillicuddy, (917) 913-0027, pmcgillicuddy@ies.org. 120 Wall Street, Floor 17, New York, NY.
We coordinate most of our electrotechnology standards advocacy with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets 4 times monthly in European and American time zones. Its meeting agendas and login credentials are available on its website. Since illumination technologies are present in all spaces in education communities, IES consensus products will appear on the standing agenda of most disciplines. See our CALENDAR.
Anglosphere (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) ~ $31T (or ~32% of GGDP)
United States GDP $27T (or about 1/3rd of GGDP)
“Livres des Merveilles du Monde” 1300 | Marco Polo | Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Today we break down consultations on titles relevant to the technology and management of the real assets of education communities in the United States specifically; but with sensitivity to the global education markets where thousands of like-minded organizations also provide credentialing, instruction, research, a home for local fine arts and sport.
“Even apart from the instability due to speculation, there is the instability due to the characteristic of human nature that a large proportion of our positive activities depend on spontaneous optimism rather than on a mathematical expectation, whether moral or hedonistic or economic. Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as the result of animal spirits — a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities. Enterprise only pretends to itself to be mainly actuated by the statements in its own prospectus, however candid and sincere that prospectus may be. Only a little more than an expedition to the South Pole is it based on an exact calculation of benefits to come. Thus if the animal spirits are dimmed and the spontaneous optimism falters, leaving us to depend on nothing but a mathematical expectation, enterprise will fade and die; — though fears of loss may have a basis no more reasonable than hopes of profit had before.”
Extended Versions Certain standards are required to be read in tandem with another standard, which is known as a reference (or parent) document. The extended version (EXV) of an IEC Standard facilitates the user to be able to consult both IEC standards simultaneously in a single, easy-to-use document.
A partial list of projects with which we have been engaged as an active participant; starting with the original University of Michigan enterprise in the late 1990’s and related collaborations with IEEE and others: (In BOLD font we identify committees with open consultations requiring a response from US stakeholders before next month’s Hello World! colloquium)
IEC/TC 8, et al System aspects of electrical energy supply
We collaborate with the appropriate ANSI US TAG; or others elsewhere in academia. We have begun tracking ITU titles with special attention to ITU Radio Communication Sector.
main(){printf("hello, world\n");}
We have collaborations with Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Sapienza – Università di Roma, Universität Zürich, Universität Potsdam, Université de Toulouse. Universidade Federal de Itajubá, University of Windsor, the University of Alberta, to name a few — most of whom collaborate with us on electrotechnology issues. Standards Michigan and its 50-state affiliates are (obviously) domiciled in the United States. However, and for most issues, we defer to the International Standards expertise at the American National Standards Institute
* A “Hello, World!” program generally is a computer program that outputs or displays the message “Hello, World!”. Such a program is very simple in most programming languages (such as Python and Javascript) and is often used to illustrate the basic syntax of a programming language. It is often the first program written by people learning to code. It can also be used as a sanity test to make sure that a computer language is correctly installed, and that the operator understands how to use it.
IEC 60364-1:2025 (6th edition, published September 5, 2025) replaces the 2005 edition (5th edition). This is a major technical revision with significant changes which we will cover throughout 2026 — after NESC and NEC work
“View of Lake Geneva” 1881 Gustave Courbet
Technical Committee 64 develops the International Electrotechnical Commission consensus product that covers similar territory for the global electrical power industry as NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code). Keep in mind that the safety traditions of the NFPA suite of consensus products are inspired by fire safety considerations. IEC 60363 Electrical installations and protection against electric shock — the parent document that applies to the wiring systems of education and healthcare facilities — was inspired from voltage safety.
– concerning protection against electric shock arising from equipment, from installations and from systems without limit of voltage,
– for the design, erection foreseeable correct use and verification of all kind of electrical installations at supply voltage up to 1 kV a.c or 1,5 kV d.c., except those installations covered by the following IEC committees: TC 9, TC 18, TC 44, TC 97, TC99
– in co-ordination with TC 99, concerning requirements additional to those of TC 99 for the design, erection and verification of electrical installations of buildings above 1kV up to 35kV.
The object of the standards shall be:
– to lay down requirements for installation and co-ordination of electrical equipment
– to lay down basic safety requirements for protection against electric shock for use by technical committees
– to lay down safety requirements for protection against other hazards arising from the use of electricity
– to give general guidance to IEC member countries that may have need of such requirements
– and to facilitate international exchanges that may be hampered by differences in national regulations.
The standards will not cover individual items of electrical equipment other than their selection for use. Safety Pilot Function: Protection against electric shock.
Since neither the USNA National Committee to the IEC (USNA/IEC), nor the US Technical Advisory Administrator (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) has a workspace set up for responding to IEC 60364 calls for public comment, we set one up for ourselves several years ago for education facility and electrical engineering faculty and students:
Note that anyone in the world is welcomed to comment upon IEC documents, contingent upon obtaining (free) login credentials. To review the the strike-and-bold you will need login credentials. Alternatively, you may click in to the 4-times monthly teleconferences of the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Massimo Mittolo, Giuseppe Parise
International Electrotechnical Commission – Central Office – Geneva
“A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery” | Joseph Wright (1766)
Most nations follow the day/month/year format (07/01/19 for January 7, 2019, for example), but the United States adheres to its own format of month/day/year (1/7/19 or 1/7/2019). The potential for misinterpreting dates across national boundaries is the logic for ISO 8601:2019 – Data Elements And Interchange Formats – Information Interchange – Representation Of Dates And Times, the ISO format for dates represents year, month, and day from the largest unit to the smallest, most specific unit of time. The ISO date format is the date format used in SQL and is the default date setting on many computers.
Citizens of the Earth depend upon United States leadership in this technology for several reasons:
Development: The GPS was originally developed by the US Department of Defense for military purposes, but it was later made available for civilian use. The US has invested heavily in the development and maintenance of the system, which has contributed to its leadership in this area.
Coverage: The GPS provides global coverage, with 24 satellites orbiting the earth and transmitting signals that can be received by GPS receivers anywhere in the world. This level of coverage is unmatched by any other global navigation system.
Accuracy: The US has worked to continually improve the accuracy of the GPS, with current accuracy levels estimated at around 10 meters for civilian users and even higher accuracy for military users.
Innovation: The US has continued to innovate and expand the capabilities of the GPS over time, with newer versions of the system including features such as higher accuracy, improved anti-jamming capabilities, and the ability to operate in more challenging environments such as indoors or in urban canyons.
Collaboration: The US has collaborated with other countries to expand the reach and capabilities of the GPS, such as through the development of compatible navigation systems like the European Union’s Galileo system and Japan’s QZSS system.
United States leadership in the GPS has been driven by a combination of investment, innovation, collaboration, and a commitment to improving the accuracy and capabilities of the system over time.
Not every student is passionate about Graph Algorithms, Green Policy or coding the Internet of Things but wants to devote their energy and talent to making the world a better place by making the world a more beautiful place. Spaces for the “creatives” among them are elevated risk spaces. Today we examine the literature for designing, building and maintaining these occupancies in the safest and most sustainable way; among them the spaces for textile research and fashion design; usually co-mingled with drawing, painting, and textile creation space.
The garment industry is multi-disciplinary and is larger than the energy industry. It contributes to the standard for civilization; even though subtly so. For this reason, starting 2023, we will break down our coverage of the literature that supports the fashion industry from the fine arts domain in separate colloquia every quarter.
Fine Arts 200. Exploration of best practice for spaces used for various forms of creative expression that are appreciated for their artistic or aesthetic value, often involving skills and techniques that require specialized training and expertise.
Painting: The application of pigment to a surface, such as canvas or paper, to create images or visual compositions using techniques like oil, acrylic, watercolor, or tempera.
Sculpture: The creation of three-dimensional artworks by shaping and manipulating materials such as stone, wood, metal, or clay.
Drawing: The use of lines, marks, or other materials to create images or representations on paper, canvas, or other surfaces.
Printmaking: The creation of multiple copies of an image from a master plate or block, using techniques like engraving, etching, lithography, or screen printing.
Photography: The use of a camera to capture and create visual images, often through techniques such as exposure, composition, and processing.
Architecture: The design and construction of buildings and structures, involving artistic elements such as form, space, materials, and aesthetics.
Ceramics: The creation of pottery or ceramic objects using techniques like wheel throwing, hand-building, or glazing.
Mixed media: The combination of different artistic materials or techniques in a single artwork, such as collage, assemblage, or installations.
Conceptual art: The creation of artworks that prioritize ideas, concepts, and intellectual or philosophical aspects over traditional aesthetic or material considerations.
Fashion 300. Best practice literature for the spaces needed for the creation of artworks using textiles and fibers, such as weaving, quilting, or embroidery. Research and teaching spaces in this domain; at the foundation of the garment industry — one of the largest sectors in the economy in any nation — present surprising challenges
“Public art is form of street life, a means to articulate the implicit values of a city when its users occupy the place of determining what the city is.” — Malcolm Miles
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/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
