Welcome to the latest Tech Briefs, Cardinal News’ weekly collection of items covering the digital and life sciences landscapes. We go live on Wednesdays.
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What’s inside
New bill would curb energy costs, demands from data centers
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is co-sponsoring a bill addressing energy affordability and reliability issues brought on by data centers’ increasing power use.
Warner and a group of eight Democratic senators introduced the Power for the People Act last week, according to a news release from his office. The bill would address rising costs and increased demands on the power grid.
To ensure that data centers are paying for increased energy costs that they cause, the bill would direct states to investigate new rate classes, direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make sure that data centers pay for transmission upgrades that support their energy demands, create incentives for them to bring their own power generation and storage systems to the grid and use clean energy resources, and provide resources to improve energy demand accuracy.
The bill would also support creation of jobs with “strong labor standards” that pay “locally prevailing wages” and use “registered apprenticeship programs,” according to the news release.
By 2028, the average household in the mid-Atlantic grid region known as PJM — the nation’s largest — could see energy bills increase by $70 per month due to data centers, according to the news release. The supply/demand imbalance from data centers could deeply impact grid reliability, it states.
“Virginia is the data center capital of the world, and new data center proposals are popping up all the time across the Commonwealth,” Warner said in the news release. “If corporations are going to run data centers in Virginia, they should cover the cost of them. I’m proud to support the Power for the People Act to ensure that huge corporations are not pawning off costs to working Americans.”
ARC grant to fund Radford University study on AI and workforce development
Radford University will develop two plans to assess the potential role of artificial intelligence in regional workforce development, thanks to a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, announced the $97,472 grant last week.
Radford University’s Vinod Chachra IMPACT Lab will lead a 12-month regional planning initiative focused on the New River Valley, including Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski and Floyd counties and the city of Radford, according to a university news release.
The IMPACT Lab will work with schools, colleges, workforce organizations, local governments, economic development partners and employers in the region on the project. They’ll assess AI’s impact on the region’s economy and evaluate workforce and training needs.
The project’s second plan is to develop a “regional roadmap” supporting AI-enabled career pathways in cybersecurity, information technology, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, construction and skilled trades, according to the university news release.
“As the United States adjusts to artificial intelligence, communities are increasingly looking to the technology to unlock growth in our economy and workforce,” Griffith said in a news release from his office.
Project partners New River Community College, Montgomery County Public Schools, Pulaski County Public Schools, the New River Valley Regional Commission, the New River/Mount Rogers Workforce Development Board, Onward NRV, the city of Radford, Montgomery County Economic Development Authority, MELD Manufacturing and Carilion Clinic are in Griffith’s 9th Congressional District.
