Symposium on higher distribution voltage for metropolitan areas¿: The relative feasibility of 460-volt or 208-volt service in commercial buildings

SEVERAL utilities have adapted 480-volt multiple-unit secondary-network installations or spot networks to supply high concentrations of power load, such as air conditioning, in commercial buildings since about 1937. The increasing incidence of these power loads in big buildings in commercial areas and their occurrence in institutional buildings, laboratory and office buildings, and shopping centers in urban and suburban areas encouraged the consideration of some voltage higher than 120/208 volts for supplying such loads. The use of 265 volts for fluorescent lighting in industrial plants suggests that attention should be focused on 265/460 volts as a desirable voltage for supplying the loads in new or rewired commercial buildings.