Energy drives IT

This importance of this article really has little to do with the NSA. It is an excellent reminder, however, that reliable and resilient electric power drives IT--literally. Substitute 'our local IT firm' for 'NSA' and read the article a second time. The NSA is facing expansion difficulties because it cannot get the power it needs to run its IT infrastructure.

How about your community? Can you deliver reliable electric power--as much as needed--to any business? We can argue about what is causing global warming, but I do see a consensus that we are moving into a period of more unsettled weather--more heat, more cold, more storms--no one seems to disagree about that, although there are many opinions on the causes. All these weather extremes tend to put more stress on electrical distribution systems, and communities that have some of their own electrical generating capacity may have a unique and distinct advantage in the Knowledge Economy. In particular, communities with public power (municipal) electric are well positioned to be attractive to IT companies with power hungry computers and servers. Diversified local electrical generating capacity (e.g. hydro, gas turbines, coal, diesel, wind, solar, cogeneration) are even better positioned to leverage that infrastructure as an economic development advantage.

Are your economic developers including reliable power as part of the strategic roadmap? If not, why not?

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