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Down to Earth: Ohio’s Geothermal Energy Innovation

21 Nov 2019, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Miami University, a public research university located in the small city of Oxford, OH, has been making unprecedented progress in the field of geothermal energy. Up until 2010, Miami had relied on carbon-intensive steam to heat almost all buildings on its 2,100 acre campus. Currently, 49 percent of those buildings…

Aii Asks: Have you heard of two-factor authentication?

01 Nov 2019, Posted by bdierker in Aii Asks, All Posts, Blog Posts

Question: October was National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Initiated in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the National Cyber Security Alliance, the monthlong project exists to encourage safe practices online. From the private sector to public agencies, protecting data is paramount. In an increasingly interconnected and…

A perfect storm for wholesale electricity prices

30 Oct 2019, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Summer temperatures and tensions were high across the state of Texas, at least for some. While every resident of the Lone Star State dealt with immense heat during August, some Texans found themselves with ludicrously high electricity bills as well. This spike in price only affected a certain sector of Texas’…

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

09 Oct 2019, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Beginning in October 2004, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month has continually drawn attention to the issue of cybersecurity and the resources available to ensure Internet safety on a national scale. Since its creation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM)…

Weathering Climate Change Through Resilient Infrastructure

08 Oct 2019, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters can be truly devastating. Not only are precious lives lost, but property damage can decimate local communities and business activity. As concerns over climate change cause many to fear stronger or more frequent storms, one simple solution stands ready to protect lives, economic activity,…

Why We Can’t Leave Fossil Fuels In The Ground

05 Oct 2019, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Environmentalists and activists on the further reaches of the green movement occasionally go as far as to say ‘leave all fossil fuels in the ground.’ While a legitimate fear of climate change may make this view understandable, it is ultimately misguided. Modern life unequivocally requires fossil fuels, but that doesn’t…

Will FERC Consider Cumulative GHG Impacts of New Pipeline Projects? It’s Complicated

30 Jan 2019, Posted by bdierker in All Posts, Blog Posts

Will FERC Consider Cumulative GHG Impacts of New Pipeline Projects? It’s Complicated The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) made a little noticed determination over the course of 2018’s summer that modified how the commission performs environmental reviews moving forward – specifically, how and if they consider cumulative greenhouse gas (GHG)…

Do You Think Pipelines Are Safe?

29 Jun 2018, Posted by staff in Aii Asks, All Posts

We asked: Do you think pipelines are safe? According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, “more than 2.6 million miles of pipelines safely deliver trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of billions of ton/miles of liquid petroleum products each year.” 166…

What Is Innovation?

31 Jan 2018, Posted by staff in All Posts, Blog Posts

What is Innovation? No one really seems to know. Few can agree on a comprehensive definition because it means different things in different contexts. But most definitions align on three points. For an idea to be innovative (1) the idea must be new, (2) the idea must create value, and…

What is Infrastructure?

18 Jan 2018, Posted by staff in All Posts, Blog Posts

Defining Infrastructure To engage in comprehensive and intelligent discussion regarding our nation’s infrastructure policy, we first need to be thoughtful about what qualifies as “infrastructure.” There is no unanimously adopted definition of infrastructure across sectors or policy lexicon. Many definitions describe “infrastructure” as the physical components of various systems that…