The Power to Produce.

Proactive planning for power quality and reliability

The need for power quality in commercial facilities has grown computer to comprehensive server networks from an electric drip coffee pot to sophisticated video conferencing equipment, it's a given that commercial buildings need to be well-wired to provided constant, reliable power for today's electronic world.

And in the tenants' minds, building owners and facilities managers take the immediate blame when the lights dim and the computer system crashes.

"Tenants are rapidly moving toward a widespread expectation that good power quality and reliability are a given," says Larry Vanderburgh, director of training and instruction at BOMI Institute, Arnold, MD. "Everyone knows computer systems are part of office life and work, and that computers need quality power and reliability. They naturally extend this logic to building owners and expect them to provide reliable power to keep their computer systems and networks running."

It's no wonder why commercial landlords are moving in this direction. Once left in the realm of electrical engineers, such terms as uninterruptible power supplies, surge arrestors, and harmonics are rolling from the tongues of owners and managers. Power quality has come to the forefront of building management, and most facilities professionals strive to ensure as reliable a power network as they can muster.

To achieve any sense of power quality, you must take your building's system over and above what current electrical codes require, experts say.

"Building codes usually deal with the minimums driven by safety," notes Brooke Stauffer, director of codes and standards for the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), Bethesda, MD. "The National Electric Code is a minimum safety code. It designs a system that is safe but that might not be the highest-performing electrical system. Building owners need to think about what additional level of quality or reliability needs to be built in beyond the basic code requirements."

Power quality means power without spikes or wide voltage swings, minimal outages, no brownouts, and no harmonic distortion. A power supplier can assure all but the last one, according to Vander-burgh. But harmonic distortion -- waveform fluctuations caused by the power …