VISION ISSUE THIRTEEN | SPRING 2022
Resiliency in Electrical Systems What is resiliency? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines resilience as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” Although this definition might seem to be more human-centered, the same definition can be applied to non-human ideologies such as building systems. In the case of building systems, the definition can be reworded to “the ability of a building system to recover from or adjust easily to disaster, manmade or natural.” In our day and age, a building system is liable to be exposed to different kinds of disasters ranging from equipment malfunction, user error, or natural disasters like flooding. Thus, when incorporating resiliency into MEP systems, we are attempting to design these systems to recover from or adjust to a disaster as quickly and with as little difficulty as possible. Why design resilient systems… We are all familiar with the phrase, “Time Is Money” and understand that the meaning behind the aphorism is to suggest that a waste of time will inevitably lead to less money earned. That being said, I would like to provide a slight reword of the expression to “[Down] time is money.” What I mean by this is that the amount of time a building system is out of service, the more money is wasted. This is most evident when you think about the flooding associated with the most recent storm Elsa which caused subway cancellations, utility shutdowns, and building evacuations. All those interruptions led to downtime which led to the inability of business continuity for countless different entities and eventually a lot of monetary losses. One of the paramount goals, then, of a resilient
system is to minimize the downtime and allow for expedient recovery of building systems with the goal of minimizing overall monetary losses. Continuing the narrative of a flooding event, central to the building owner’s post-flood efforts is resuming building operations as quickly as possible, while also attempting to achieve this recovery in the most affordable manner possible. So, is there an emphasis on ensuring that all efforts are economical? Is the owner replacing equipment that had just recently been purchased with capital and operating costs sunk into them? In general, when a new building is constructed, the hope is to purchase equipment once, attempt to use that equipment up to its useful life, and only have to purchase new equipment after the lifetime of the original equipment has been expended. However, when a disaster strikes, the useful life of equipment is diminished or eliminated. Avoiding wasted investment on equipment supporting building systems is another reason why designing a resilient system is very beneficial. How to make building electrical systems more resilient… One of the first steps in determining how to implement resilient design into your electrical systems is to understand the threat. Focusing on flooding as our case study, the threat is flood water damaging and rendering equipment unusable as described in the paragraphs above. After the presumed threat is understood, the next step is understanding what building systems will be impacted by the threat. In the case of building flooding, electrical service equipment located at the lowest level of a building is particularly ALL TEXT ©2022 KOHLER RONAN, LLC
vulnerable because it interconnects equipment within the building with utility services outside the building. Thus, our focus for applying resiliency measures would be on the utility service connection boxes, switchboards, panelboards, and any conduit and wire that exists below the Design Flood Elevation (DFE) level. As soon as we have identified the equipment most vulnerable to a flood, we can either design resiliency into those systems and keep them in place or remove them from the threat entirely. For the service switchboards and panelboards, for example, is it necessary that the switchboards remain in the basement level? Perhaps, they can be relocated to a level above the DFE and kept away from the threat. However, achieving this is easier said than done as various codes or requirements from Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) might not allow for a complete relocation of service equipment. If they do not, then sacrificial service equipment could be placed below the DFE with main distribution equipment placed above the DFE. In the event that the AHJ permits the equipment to be relocated to a higher level, then all service and distribution equipment (including equipment that “Resiliency in Electrical Systems” continued on page 2
IN THIS ISSUE Resiliency in Electrical Systems
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Approach to Historic Structures Revit ® Corner
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Net-Zero Buildings
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Project Highlight
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