Latest news with #GregRobinson
CTV News
25-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Looking to the future: Tourism Lethbridge working on new strategic plan
Tourism Lethbridge has begun the development of a new strategic plan to guide the organization into its next chapter. Tourism Lethbridge has begun the development of a new strategic plan to guide the organization into its next chapter. The current plan, developed for 2021 to 2025, has served as a foundational roadmap, and while its core pillars remain relevant, the board of directors says it is now prioritizing a shift that reflects the evolving needs of the tourism industry, stakeholders and the city of Lethbridge. The board says the new plan will continue to focus on organizational sustainability, driving economic growth, stakeholder and partner engagement, along with brand and destination development. The plan will include a fifth pillar for advocacy and influence. 'We're looking at (whether) people's habits changed with more staycations versus longer travel trips, so some of those things need to be changed, but we're also seeing some amazing facilities and assets right in our city that really need to be told far and wide and let people know that yes, we're a hub and there's so many great UNESCO sites out there, but there's also fantastic facilities and fantastic events that are happening right here,' said Greg Robinson, Tourism Lethbridge board chairperson. Tourism Lethbridge hopes to have the new strategic plan finalized and ready for implementation in 2026.
Forbes
13-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
In The Race To Power Data Centers, Which Fuel Will Win Is The Wrong Question
Greg Robinson is the cofounder and CEO of Aston , a company building a clean, firm power network to serve the world's largest energy users. getty Having spent my career in clean energy, I have had the opportunity to talk to a range of energy experts. From leaders at utilities and independent power producers to regulatory decision makers, we nerd out on topics ranging from whether the future of power is on-grid or off-grid to how we'll meet surging energy demand and what the optimal fuel mix is to do this. Lately, the thing I'm asked about most is which fuel I think will win the race to power the data centers that power AI. It's a fair question, but in a shifting energy landscape, it's one with a complicated answer. The U.S. power market is a very complex business model, and the grid itself is a convoluted web of old tech like coal plants and new tech like solar and wind, making and transferring power to keep the proverbial lights on for individuals and businesses alike. In my view, the idea that one fuel will 'win' is the wrong way of looking at it. The current landscape consists of a shrinking coal footprint; growing natural gas and renewables like wind, solar and batteries; and blossoming nuclear. Below, I share the context that gets us closer to understanding what the future holds. The Flaws And Faults Of Our Options At the risk of stating the obvious, the energy industry can only consider the technologies that are available today. For this reason, there's often a 'use what you have' mentality. For example, there's a lot of talk about the potential of nuclear power to solve the surging energy demand, and small modular reactors (SMRs) will play a large role, but experts say that technology is still years away. As a result, utilities and data center builders have been looking to gas, but a bottleneck in the production of turbines is slowing procurement until at least 2029. That, combined with the rising cost of building new plants, upgrading the pipeline network to provide enough gas is making gas less available and affordable. Where in 2022, it costs roughly $800/kWh to build a gas plant, projections are now that it will cost $2,400/kWh. But even if building more gas plants were a timely and affordable solution, it is still a dangerous premise. Assets like gas and coal plants are 30-plus-year assets. So building new gas plants now means that once viable nuclear power arrives and the cost of solar and batteries continues to drop, we run the risk of doing to gas plants what we have been doing to coal plants: turning them off because we overbuilt the network and there are better options available. The Rush To Zero Marginal Costs Businesses across various industries try to innovate their way toward zero marginal cost. They would rather pay larger capital costs upfront one time and then use that asset for a long time. AWS is a good example. During the rise of cloud computing, AWS had the innovative idea that rather than build and sell servers to companies, it would develop servers in the cloud and then rent that space to those who need it. Netflix is similar. Pay for the content once and then rent it out to millions of users. Fossil fuel-based energy will never reach zero marginal cost because you need to process resources to use them. Nuclear also has a fuel but seldom needs to be refueled. Solar and wind backed by batteries are pushing the closest to zero marginal cost. The price of solar and batteries has come down nearly 100% and will keep getting less expensive. This brings me to the real factor that will determine which fuel will win: It's the fuel with the most contracts. Which Fuel Will Win? The energy market is contract-driven. Specifically, contracts that are known as 'take or pay.' This means when suppliers (like a natural gas producer) make a deal with buyers (like a utility or power plant), the contracts are long-term (usually 15 years at minimum), and the buyer agrees to take a predetermined amount of energy at a fixed price. If they don't take the energy, the buyer pays anyway. So it's really 'pay or pay' contacts. This structure leaves little incentive for buyers locked into contracts to make any moves until the contract ends. If we build more gas plants, that will effectively make those operational long after less expensive modes of energy become available. How we structure contracts needs to change. Long-term contracts made sense during the decades of relatively steady power demand, but they don't work in this era of surging power demand. Leaders in the energy industry and the large customers who depend on their power need to reconsider a new approach to energy contracts, or we'll find ourselves trapped in the past, which will ultimately impact our future. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Microchip Introduces PIC16F17576 MCU Family to Simplify Analog Sensor Design
Integrated low-power analog peripherals reduce design costs and complexity CHANDLER, Ariz., April 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Devices designed for capturing rapidly changing analog signals must respond quickly while consuming minimal power, especially in battery-operated applications. To address these demands, Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP) has released the PIC16F17576 microcontroller (MCU) product family with integrated low-power peripherals and the ability to precisely measure volatile analog signals. PIC16F17576 MCUs feature a new low-power comparator and voltage reference combination that can operate while the MCU core is in sleep mode, allowing for continuous analog measurement while consuming less than 3.0 µA of current. The Analog Peripheral Manager (APM) controls which peripherals are active to minimize total energy consumption and enable battery-operated applications to monitor signals effectively without excessive power drain. Engineered for applications that measure volatile analog signals, PIC16F17576 MCUs include operational amplifiers (op amps) with software-controlled gain ladders. This feature enables a single op amp to switch between multiple gain options, helping mitigate noise while maintaining precision and power efficiency. Equipped with up to four op amps and a 12-bit differential ADC with automated averaging, the MCUs enable precise signal measurement over a wide range of inputs. 'Sensor systems can quickly become complex, often requiring multiple analog components that add board size, cost and power draw,' said Greg Robinson, corporate vice president of Microchip's MCU business unit. 'With the integrated analog features in our low-power PIC16F17576 MCUs, we're cutting that complexity. You can eliminate parts and reduce power consumption, cutting costs and simplifying the overall design process.' PIC16F17576 MCUs are well suited for measuring analog signals in a number of industries, including environmental and industrial monitoring, smart home and building automation. Key applications include vibration and strain measurement, flow metering, gas detection, cold asset tracking and motion sensing. Visit the website to learn more about Microchip's full portfolio of PIC® MCUs. Development ToolsPIC16F17576 MCUs are supported by MPLAB® X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and MPLAB Code Configurator which allows designers to easily manage the functionality of the APM and analog peripherals. The devices are compatible with Microchip's Curiosity Nano EV14L29A development board and MPLAB PICkit™ development tools. Pricing and AvailabilityPIC16F17576 MCUs are available starting at $.57 each in 10,000-unit quantities. For additional information and to purchase, contact a Microchip sales representative, authorized worldwide distributor or visit Microchip's Purchasing and Client Services website, ResourcesHigh-res images available through Flickr or editorial contact (feel free to publish): Application image: About Microchip Technology:Microchip Technology Inc. is a leading provider of smart, connected and secure embedded control and processing solutions. Its easy-to-use development tools and comprehensive product portfolio enable customers to create optimal designs which reduce risk while lowering total system cost and time to market. The company's solutions serve over 100,000 customers across the industrial, automotive, consumer, aerospace and defense, communications and computing markets. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at Note: The Microchip name and logo, the Microchip logo, MPLAB and PIC are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries. PICkit is a trademark of Microchip Technology Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies. Editorial Contact: Reader Inquiries: Amber Liptai 1-888-624-7435 480-792-5047 Sign in to access your portfolio
