Electical Contractor

Several of my articles recently have been about low-voltage direct current (DC) powered equipment and telecommunications systems vulnerabilities to power quality phenomena, especially with regard to transients, noise and other types of electromagnetic interference (EMI).

Safety on the job is everyone’s responsibility. If an employer or employee neglects this responsibility, the chance of serious injury or death increases significantly.

During The winter holiday season, houses are often decorated inside and out with little blinking lights. But, when the regular house or commercial lights blink or flicker, that’s a different story, and it is about to change.

When most people think of the source and effects of power quality problems, they think of voltage interruptions, harmonics, transients, sags, swells and even flicker, all of which are phenomena that occur on the alternating current (AC) voltage system.

Last month, I covered common power quality phenomena with regards to the National Electrical Code (NEC). Two articles address specific topics related to power quality: Article 647, Sensitive Electronic Equipment, and Article 708, Critical Operations Power Systems (COPS).

Power quality has finally made the big time in the United States, getting mentioned at the federal level under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

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).

Nearly a decade ago, a collaborative project with Duke Energy, Clemson University and Dranetz-BMI tried to change the focus from the quality of power to the quality of the process.

Last month’s article touched on photovoltaic (PV) arrays as a renewable power source. According to SolarBuzz.com, the installation cost of PV modules is still high ($4.31 per watt).