Energy and Climate

Civil rights groups are increasingly concerned that AI's rapidly spreading physical infrastructure is deepening climate burdens for communities of color.

Reflections cast by a growing number of satellites orbiting the Earth could ruin more than 95 percent of images taken by some space telescopes in the next decade, according to a NASA-led study. The reflected light shows up as streaks called satellite trails. It's been seen in images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The situation is only getting worse as more satellites accumulate in orbit, according to researchers.

When you talk to as many industry players as we do, you start to pick up on trends. Many of these are technical in nature or simply recurring problems that folks are encountering as they all try to tackle the same challenges. But others are just—for lack of a better word—funny. Case in point: Neocloud companies absolutely hate being called neoclouds. This point was independently and organically made by executives from both Nebius and Lambda in recent interviews.

In late October, a catastrophic storm, dubbed Hurricane Melissa, tore through the Caribbean, making landfall in Jamaica on October 28 as a Category 5 storm and causing widespread devastation. As relief and recovery efforts continue, Liam Donnelly, chief business officer at Digicel, joined The Divide for a discussion on how the storm impacted Digicel's fixed and mobile networks in the Caribbean, as well as the company's interim and long-term efforts to restore connectivity.

Power limits—not just lack of spectrum—are a key bottleneck for low-earth orbit satellite deployment, panelists argued at a New America policy event. As the Federal Communications Commission considers how to update its satellite spectrum sharing rules, it’s also thinking about revamping its Equivalent Power Flux Density limits so that LEO providers can boost their satellite power levels—and in turn up their capacity.

The rapacious energy needs of data centers finally seem to have taken a political toll. In recent elections, candidates in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere ran—and won—on voters’ frustration with rising utility bills caused partly by America’s enormous AI buildout.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as undersecretary for rural development at the Department of Agriculture, Glen Smith, pledged to review how the agency can better coordinate its rural broadband expansion efforts. During his nomination hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Smith equated high-speed internet access with a “higher quality of life” and repeatedly called for improving broadband infrastructure to help revitalize rural economies. Sen Joni Ernst (R-IA), pressed Smith to address what she described as “duplicative” efforts among the government’s 133 broadband progr

Governor Josh Stein announced a $50 million Broadband Recovery Program that will provide grants to help internet service providers rebuild and repair broadband infrastructure destroyed by Hurricane Helene.

Two unfolding forces will shape significantly the short-term future of the Democratic Party:

When western North Carolinians needed to communicate with one another more urgently than ever before, the region’s telecommunications systems went dark. High winds and floodwaters from Hurricane Helene in September of 2024 destroyed more than 1,700 miles of fiber optic cables, according to North Carolina Statewide Interoperability Coordinator Greg Hauser. This knocked out most of the area’s cell towers, leaving residents starved for basic information.