Title: Crafting a Resilient Economy and Infrastructure: The Need for Innovative Approaches
Title: Crafting a Resilient Economy and Infrastructure: The Need for Innovative Approaches
Jennifer Sanders, excelling as the Executive Director at North Texas Innovation Alliance and co-founder of National Smart Coalitions Partnership, stands as a proponent of resilience in every aspect of life – human, leadership, corporate, urban, or institutional. This concept isn't just reactive or predictive; it should be integrated into current and future strategic endeavors.
Literally, every corner of the sectors is embracing resilience, regardless of their awareness:
• Businesses want resilience in revenue growth and operations.
• Cities aim for uninterrupted services and crisis-proof operations.
• Utilities focus on infrastructure resilience amidst juggling demanding needs and potential resource scarcity.
• Individuals pursue mental, physical, and financial stability.
• Economic developers leverage resilience to drive economic growth and population expansion.
During one roundtable discussion to prepare for an upcoming legislative session, the group delved into the potential impacts of AI on economic development, workforces, and electric infrastructure – essentially where AI meets resilience. The main takeaway? AI is a formidable force with the potential to transform economies, but its complexities and resource demands are undeniable.
An Economic Dorian: AI and Its Hunger
AI promises unprecedented growth opportunities for all companies and cities that can afford to invest in it. Take, for instance, Cincinnati’s REDI initiative, which leveraged AI to secure $6.2 billion in investments over a decade. AI can certainly act as a powerful engine of economic development.
However, it's important to recognize the downsides of AI, mainly its high energy and water consumption. According to Barclays Research, the U.S. electricity demand from AI-driven data centers could more than double by 2030, accounting for over 9% of total electricity consumption. This constant, peak demand puts enormous strain on power grids.
Moreover, AI's water footprint has raised concerns, especially about the staggering increase in water consumption in Virginia's "data center alley." Between 2019 and 2023, water consumption in that region rose by nearly 64%. This illustrates the urgency of addressing AI's pressures on finite resources like water and ensuring sustainable innovation.
What’s more, these resource-straining impacts exacerbated by extreme weather events are forcing communities to reconsider infrastructure planning and investments. How to adapt and survive? The need to evolve our economic development paradigms has become apparent.
Flip the Model on Its Head: Redefining Incentives in the Age of AI
Traditional economic development incentive strategies tend to fall under three categories: tax incentives, direct financial assistance, and infrastructure support. These funding modalities are often dispensed as mandatory or discretionary benefits.
Does this traditional model scale to accommodate AI and related infrastructure challenges? Does it foster much-needed resilience?
Perhaps it's time to consider a new model: Shared-Cost, Shared-Benefit Infrastructure. By flipping traditional incentive models on their heads, public, private, and community stakeholders can co-benefit.
An Shared-Gain Renaissance
Sharing infrastructure costs and benefits can result in a beneficial collaboration among partners, creating a "win-win-win" scenario. Practical implementations include:
• Site Selection with Shared Constructs: Selectors identify parcels with ongoing infrastructure projects in the pipeline.
• Pre-Investment in Resources: Economic development entities can contribute to the pre-requisite needed capacity, infrastructure, microgrids, closed-loop energy generation, and green infrastructure.
• Green Foundation: Committing to construction of green spaces, tree coverage, closed-loop water runoffs – all resources that could potentially aid during hazardous weather events.
• Community-Focused Commitment: Providing facilities for training hubs, networking spaces, small-business incubators, and disaster-resilient centers can help underserved communities often overlooked by AI/data center-focused sites.
Adopting this shared model allows partitioning of resource pressures and nullifying localized objections, among other advantages. While this approach is not an exhaustive solution, it certainly moves in the right direction.
Funding is Not the Only Solution
Although new funding models can aid in addressing AI's resource-straining challenges, they make up only a part of the solution. Policymakers and businesses must also focus on nurturing a trusting community and promoting responsible AI usage. Collaborative partnerships comprising external experts and agencies can greatly contribute to fostering transparency and goodwill.
In the discussion, the importance of Jennifer Sanders' role as a proponent of resilience was highlighted, with her contributions at North Texas Innovation Alliance and National Smart Coalitions Partnership commended.
Furthermore, as the national and regional landscape embraces resilience in various sectors, it's worth noting that Jennifer Sanders is one of the prominent figures advocating for this concept, leveraging its potential to promote economical growth and population expansion.