Electrical Industry Articles and Stories

With winter now in force, the snow shovel and bag of ice-melting pellets have returned like migrating songbirds to their seasonal perches on my back deck. I live in a part of southeast New England that doesn’t get a lot of snow, on average, but is also quite capable of getting buried if a nor’easter follows just the right track up the coast.

Fun fact. Light travels at approximately 186,000 miles per second. Whoosh.

That’s kind of fast, right? Faster than my old Ford pickup, anyway.

Looking through a manufacturer’s online enclosure catalog recently, I came across a term I hadn’t heard before. Now, I’m not a contractor, so I likely haven’t seen as many of these listings as you might have. But I am a journalist who has covered the construction industry for several decades, and the term “mild steel” stuck out to me when it showed up as a material option for the maker’s broad range of enclosure offerings.

In new construction, sustainable building practices are becoming the norm. But even in existing buildings, simple strategies can be implemented quickly and easily to address inefficiencies, reduce energy use, improve comfort, and enhance productivity in the space.

Bonding and grounding are simple concepts, but, unfortunately, they’re also easily confused with each other. Definitions of one term often get wrapped up in the definitions of the other, and, before long, one can begin thinking the words are interchangeable.

“Grounding” refers to the creation of a path from electrical equipment to the earth. It is intended to protect equipment and help prevent fires that might occur due to high voltages resulting from lightning strikes, line surges or unintended contact with higher-voltage lines.

The dependence on quality, reliable data is now more business-critical than ever. Businesses rely on data centers for 24/7 connectivity; to uphold federal codes and regulations; and to ensure resiliency, performance, and more—all so the business can stick to meeting the demands of their own customers. Data centers should also be highly adaptable.