Procedures for Inspecting Switchgear
from IAEI Magazine
Switchgear is one of those terms that seem to get used a lot to describe many different kinds of electrical equipment and for the most part, everyone understands what is being talked about. Many inspectors and electricians also tend to think of switchgear as being medium- or high-voltage and, indeed, in looking through the NEC for applicable rules the only places you see the terms metal-enclosed switchgear or switchgear or metal-clad switchgear are in the over 600 volt sections of various articles. So apparently if you are talking switchgear you are talking about an over 600 volt installation right? Not necessarily. More

Officials Highlight Advanced Fire Prevention Technology Coming Next Year to North Carolina Homes
from Business Wire via MarketWatch
Fire and electrical safety officials from across the state today praised the state's Building Code Council for expanding requirements for an innovative home safety device designed to help prevent deadly home electrical fires - a move that would help make new homes built in North Carolina among the safest in the U.S. More

High School Senior a High-voltage Talent
from the Morning Sentinel
Chad Bagley can wire with the best of them when it comes to electrical systems. The Lawrence High School senior, a Fairfield, Maine, resident, proved that last month when he won the electrical-wiring competition at the 9th annual Craft Championship. Competitors had to connect different types of switches and deal with ground fault and light receptacles, Newman said. To add to the challenge, all of the work had to be completed to National Electrical Code (NEC) standards. More

Association Offers Electroindustry Recommendations to President-elect Obama
from Control Engineering
In an open letter to President-elect Barack Obama on behalf of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Evan Gaddis, NEMA president and CEO, offered the association as a resource. The letter requested resources at the Department of Energy (DOE) to ensure promulgation of product energy-efficiency rules, incentives for states to adopt and enforce energy building codes, funding for the High Performance Green Building and Commercial Building Initiative, and more funding for DOE research on advanced solid-state (LED and OLED) lighting technologies. More

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter Necessary in Exterior Environment
from Hometown Annapolis
The degree of fault that will cause a GFCI to trip is very tiny amount of electrical current between 4- and 6/1,000 (four and six thousandths) of an amp - an amount that even if you felt it as a shock would feel like a tiny pin prick. On the other hand, if you grab something electrical that wants to make you the path to the current's ground and a current as small as 16 to 20/1,000 thousandths of an amp crosses your heart muscle, your heart goes into ventricular fibrillation and you die - that's called electrocution and it only happens to you once. More

The Case of Overheated Transformers and Neutral Conductors
from EC&M
Historically, typical loads of commercial power systems have been predominately linear; however, in the last few decades, a significant portion of these loads has changed to the nonlinear variety. One invention that's used as a major component of phase-to-neutral nonlinear loads is the switch-mode power supply, used in a wide range of personal electronic devices (probably the most prominent of which is the personal computer or PC). The following case study reveals how a large population of PCs led to overheated distribution transformers and neutral conductors at a commercial facility. More

Texas City Aims to 'Reinvent the Electric System'
from GreenBang
City officials in Austin, Texas, have embarked upon a project to develop what they are calling the "energy system of the future," reinventing the city’s electric infrastructure as a clean-energy smart grid. More