June 2010 Issue #1216
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Medical Emergency
As the government strives to implement healthcare reform and is approaching many hurdles, the 2011 National Electrical Code (NEC) is well into the development process. Technical committees have acted upon all NEC change proposals and comments. This month, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) will host its annual conference and exposition where the final NEC technical session will take place. At this meeting, the membership is afforded one last opportunity to shape the Code for the coming cycle, as final revisions can happen by floor actions.
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Where’s the Beef?
About a year ago, we covered some of the initiatives of the smart grid that came out of the Energy Independence and Securities Act of 2007 (EISA), which was funded last year with more than $3.4 billion of stimulus money from the America Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA). Like EISA, which devoted a significant amount of the act to the smart grid, energy efficiency and power quality, the ARRA mentions energy efficiency and infrastructure in its objectives.
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Covering It All
In previous columns, we discussed the two major changes to NFPA 72 2010, the new emergency communications systems chapter and the new circuits and pathways chapter. There are quite a few other changes that are worth discussing.