Infrastructure

The Bay Area city is making high-speed Internet more accessible with projects focused on affordability and service delivery and aimed at closing the digital divide. A California Public Utilities Commission grant is among the funding sources.

The project’s parent company recently pitched four new buildings to town officials, for an artificial intelligence data center. Currently, four buildings on the 30-acre site house bitcoin mining; a fifth should be finished next year.

The school districts have created initiatives in technology, leadership and equity. As part of Digital Promise’s 2024-25 cohort, they will gain access to its resources to continue their work and connect with other educators.

The electric vehicle charging network is close to securing a federal Department of Energy loan and plans to stand up 7,500 high-speed chargers in five years. It and other companies are working to make charging simpler and more pleasant.

Per capita broadband infrastructure funding is highest in rural states, a new report finds, even though the digital divide exists in all areas. Reviews.org examines funding states are receiving from the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program.

To meet air quality permit requirements to run a green hydrogen facility in Massena, N.Y., Air Products will build electric vehicle charging stations in the town. The firm is developing more than 84 acres to produce liquid hydrogen using hydroelectric power.

Cyber threats to water systems, electrical grids and the space sector are on the rise, but new resources, policies and strategies could help.

An agreement with Gigapower LLC will lease unused fiber conduits, bringing high-speed Internet to residents, and swelling city coffers by nearly $8 million over 20 years. Officials have been looking to partner since 2020, to bring broadband to residents.

The U.S. Department of Energy approved $206.5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help the Alaska Energy Authority build a 38-mile submarine cable across Cook Inlet from roughly Nikiski to Beluga.

Data centers like the proposed one that sparked controversy in Fort Worth last week are putting a strain on power grids and water resources, and state lawmakers are considering restrictions on such facilities.

The Board of Carroll County Commissioners plans to criticize a proposal for a 14-acre solar farm in Sykesville, arguing that it would violate the county’s ban on solar facilities on agricultural land.

Oil companies could use a glut of natural gas to generate electricity for data centers. But one state official is using the “R” word — “regulation.” U.S. electric demand is rising for the first time in decades as a result of these facilities coming online.

As transit organizations face hard choices related to reduced funding levels, industry observers say new forms of granular, location-based data will be needed to restructure for new realities and priorities.

In migrating to a more advanced digital platform, and moving off timecards, officials hope to save hours of time and eliminate inaccuracies and accounting errors. The timecard system will be retired next month.

The project, in the city’s far southwestern area, won City Council approval after months of opposition from neighbors who claimed it would endanger the environment. The developer said it would be an economic boon, not a threat.

Data centers are emerging as essential pieces of infrastructure to support the modern, digital, artificial intelligence-driven economy. Electricity, and lots of it, is vital to their growth.

It can take about a decade for a high-speed electric vehicle charger to recoup its investment without government subsidies, according to a new report. But the need for public charging infrastructure may be unlikely to diminish.

No rules currently govern where computer data generated by Chicago residents and employees and stored by the city must be kept. An ordinance requiring that data be stored within the United States is moving forward in the City Council.