Our Blog

These days, most people are tired about hearing the words “stimulating the economy”. If you are like me, you’d rather see the results from all the stimulation instead of hearing people talk about it. To that end, we have been involved with a couple of projects at a very preliminary…

Gary Short Jul 24, 2009

Last time we discussed grounding electrodes, what they are and what they do. This month, we will discuss the NEC requirements for installing grounding electrodes. Grounding Electrodes – Installation Requirements NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, has specific material and installation requirements for grounding electrodes: Metal Underground Water Pipe A metal…

Gary Short Apr 21, 2009

This week, I attended an afternoon’s worth of seminars related to Autodesk’s Building Information Modeling (BIM) products, with an emphasis on Revit MEP. What I saw and heard kind of surprised me, and I thought I’d share a little bit of that experience with you. Going into the seminar, I…

Gary Short Apr 02, 2009

Last time we discussed the three purposes of grounding, and we briefly touched on the components that make up the grounding system. This month, we will discuss grounding electrodes, what they are and what they do. (more…)

Gary Short Mar 27, 2009

I am often asked the question, how much does LEED cost? As a LEED Accredited Professional, my trained answer is that LEED reduces first cost as well as operating cost. As a consulting engineer working in the central mid-west, my answer is that there are no first cost savings; nevertheless,…

Gary Short Mar 13, 2009

One day, Gary, Travis and I were at a Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP – see http://helzbergmentoring.org/HEMP/), getting our annual dose of business knowledge. While we were there, I had time to reflect on Commissioning and Engineering, and how sys-tek’s blend of these two services sets us apart from our…

Gary Short Mar 07, 2009

Starting up a new blog can be challenging. With well over 100 million blogs out there in the world, my thoughts are not likely to be even in the top half of those that are actively tracked. In the end, I’ve decided that the best way to start is to…

Gary Short Nov 28, 2008