Latest news with #ThompsonRiversUniversity
Arabian Post
18 hours ago
- Business
- Arabian Post
Bell Unveils Ambitious AI Infrastructure Network Across Canada
Bell Canada has launched a major initiative to bolster the country's artificial intelligence capabilities through the establishment of a nationwide network of high-performance, hydroelectric-powered data centres. Dubbed Bell AI Fabric, the project aims to provide 500 megawatts of AI computing capacity, marking a significant step in enhancing Canada's sovereign AI infrastructure. The first facility, a 7-megawatt data centre in Kamloops, British Columbia, is set to commence operations this month. This centre is developed in partnership with Groq, an AI inference provider and chip designer. A second 7-megawatt facility in Merritt, British Columbia, is scheduled to open by the end of the year. Additionally, two larger 26-megawatt data centres are planned for Kamloops, with the first expected to open in 2026 at Thompson Rivers University and the second in 2027. Two more data centres, with a combined capacity exceeding 400 megawatts, are in advanced planning stages. Groq's advanced Language Processing Units will power these centres, offering faster inference performance at lower costs compared to existing market alternatives. This technology is particularly suited for large language models, enhancing the efficiency of AI workloads. ADVERTISEMENT The initiative also includes an academic partnership with Thompson Rivers University. The data centre at the university will support AI training and inference, providing students and faculty with access to cutting-edge computing capabilities. Moreover, the facility will integrate into the district energy system, repurposing waste heat to supply energy to the university's buildings.
CBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Bell Canada to launch 6 AI data centres in B.C.
Telecom giant Bell Canada has announced plans to build six artificial intelligence data centres in B.C. Bell AI Fabric will create a "data centre supercluster" in the province beginning with a centre in Kamloops this June and another in Merritt by the end of the year. Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of Bell Canada, said he wants the project to become "the fabric for the AI economy for Canada." "To do it right here, you know, starting in B.C., is a testament to all the attributes that British Columbia has in terms of kind of the natural resources of the hydroelectric power, the innovation mindset, universities who are … ready, willing and able to join in," Bibic told the CBC. Kamloops to host 3 centres In addition to the first two locations, Bell AI Fabric plans to open another four AI data centres in the province. Two more will open in Kamloops in 2026 and 2027, while the final two locations have not yet been announced. Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops will be home to one of the data centres designed to host AI training and inference. Asked about the power supply needed to run the centres amid concerns about B.C. Hydro meeting future electrical demand, Bibic said he believes there is capacity in the B.C. Interior. He added that they picked Kamloops for three of the centres for its access to reliable clean energy and its "ideal climate." He promised Bell will hire local workers as it builds and manages the centres and noted Bell AI Fabric president, Dan Rink, is based in Kamloops. Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz said he's excited for the new data centre in his community. "If you're first in the door, you can control the narrative," Goetz said. "If you're coming up behind once everybody's jumped on the bandwagon, then you're playing catch up." He said the city was lucky the land was available: years ago, the site was upgraded to become a grow-op, according to Goetz. "It was going to be a row of greenhouses for the grow-up.… So it's a very powerful site." Bell AI Fabric is also planning to expand its network nationally and is considering locations in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, Bibic said. Data sovereignty The project has been in the works for more than a year, according to Bibic, and wasn't in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and annexation threats. But Bibic said recent events have shown the importance of "data sovereignty," which he described as a three-pronged concept: where data resides, who owns the infrastructure and who controls the technology being used. "If there are major geopolitical events that put any of that at risk, you know that we are secure in terms of the access of technology because everything's owned, controlled, managed by Canadians, for Canadians." Bell AI Fabric plans to serve research institutions, universities, start-ups and large enterprises. Its first partner, American AI company Groq (not to be confused with Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok), will make a home at the first data centre in Kamloops, where it will work with language processing unit chips. While Bell cut its shareholder dividends for the first time in 17 years earlier this month, Bibic said the reset would give Bell the flexibility to invest in AI technology solutions.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
'It's pretty bleak': A warming planet is poised to get even hotter, forecasters warn
As hot, dry and disastrous as the last few years have been, it appears that the chaos caused by a warming planet is just getting started. Though the hottest year in nearly two centuries was recorded only last year, the world will probably shatter that record yet again by 2029, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization, the climate and weather arm of the United Nations. There is a very good chance that average warming over the next five years will be more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.5 degrees Celsius, above preindustrial levels, the cap established by the Paris Agreement to ward off the worst consequences of climate change. There's an even better chance that at least one of those years will be more than 2.7 degrees above the 1850 to 1900 average. That means we can expect many more days when the weather feels freakish and far more natural disasters that cost people their homes, health or lives. 'It's pretty bleak,' said Mike Flannigan, a fire scientist at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia. 'My fear is that [the coming years] will be even warmer than they suggest, and the impacts will continue to catch us by surprise and be more severe than we expect across the world, including the American West.' In the western U.S. states, including California, those effects most probably include drought, heat waves and longer fire seasons with more intense wildfires, climate scientists said. 'As the globe has warmed thus far, the western U.S. has warmed as well, but without increases in precipitation that compensate for the drought- and wildfire-promoting effects of warming,' UCLA professor Park Williams said. Last year, Williams examined 1,200 years of geological records and found that the previous 25 years were probably the driest quarter of a century since the year 800. He sees no reason why that trend won't continue. 'Given that there is not even a whiff of a hint that our global greenhouse gas emissions are going to slow in the next few years, then it appears virtually certain that the globally averaged temperature will continue to set new records every few years or so, just as it's done over the past four to five decades,' Williams said. The projections in the U.N. report are based on more than 200 forecasting models run by scientists at 14 research institutes around the globe, including two managed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report found an 80% chance that at least one year in the 2025 to 2029 period will surpass 2024 as the warmest year on record, and an 86% chance that at least one of those years will exceed the 2.7 degrees warming target. It estimated a 70% likelihood that average warming over that period will be more than 2.7 degrees, though total warming averaged over 20 years — the Paris Agreement standard — will probably remain below that threshold. 'Unfortunately, this WMO report provides no sign of respite over the coming years, and this means that there will be a growing negative impact on our economies, our daily lives, our ecosystems and our planet,' Ko Barrett, deputy secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said in a statement. The consequences of warming will probably vary widely across the world, the report found: rapid thawing of Arctic sea ice, drier seasons in the Amazon, excess rain in places such as Alaska, northern Europe and the Sahel in north-central Africa. Hotter temperatures are more effective at evaporating water out of plants and soil, leading to droughts and failed crop seasons. At the same time, a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which increases the chance of flood-inducing downpours and hurricanes. Episodes of climate 'whiplash' — rapid swings between wet-to-dry and dry-to-wet conditions — are also growing more frequent and intense because of rising global temperatures. The devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires in January erupted after such a period. Unusually heavy rains in 2023 led to an explosion of new vegetation, which dried out and turned into kindling during an exceptionally dry 2024. The same week that the fires began, government agencies in the U.S. and around the world confirmed that 2024 was the planet's hottest year since recordkeeping began in 1880. It was the 11th consecutive year the record had been set. The U.S. will likely head into this period of climate chaos with a drastically reduced ability to forecast disasters and head off their worst consequences. Rounds of firings have reduced staffing at NOAA, including in the agency's National Weather Service. The Trump administration has proposed a $1.5-billion cut to NOAA's budget in 2026, a 25% reduction from the previous year's spending. Those budget cuts are part of a wider turn away from climate mitigation efforts. The U.S. already had a messy relationship with the Paris Agreement. It withdrew from the international accord just days before President Trump lost his reelection bid in November 2020. The U.S. rejoined when Joe Biden entered the White House in January 2021, but pulled out again when Trump began his second term in January. Trump has gone even further to roll back U.S. climate science this time. The phrases 'climate crisis,' 'clean energy' and 'climate science' are among the prohibited terms that federal funding recipients and employees must reportedly strike from websites, reports, regulations and other communications. In April, the administration dismissed more than 400 scientists and other experts who started writing the latest National Climate Assessment report, a congressionally mandated assessment of the latest climate change science and mitigation progress. Meanwhile, the warming trend continues. And there's no withdrawing from the planetary consequences. 'It's scary. It really is,' Flannigan said. 'A lot of people are ignoring this, or [saying] 'it won't be in my backyard.' But it's going to be in just about everyone's backyard soon.' This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Climate
- Los Angeles Times
‘It's pretty bleak': A warming planet is poised to get even hotter, forecasters warn
As hot, dry and disastrous as the last few years have been, it appears that the chaos caused by a warming planet is just getting started. Though the hottest year in nearly two centuries was recorded only last year, the world will probably shatter that record yet again by 2029, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization, the climate and weather arm of the United Nations. There is a very good chance that average warming over the next five years will be more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.5 degrees Celsius, above preindustrial levels, the cap established by the Paris Agreement to ward off the worst consequences of climate change. There's an even better chance that at least one of those years will be more than 2.7 degrees above the 1850 to 1900 average. That means we can expect many more days when the weather feels freakish and far more natural disasters that cost people their homes, health or lives. 'It's pretty bleak,' said Mike Flannigan, a fire scientist at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia. 'My fear is that [the coming years] will be even warmer than they suggest, and the impacts will continue to catch us by surprise and be more severe than we expect across the world, including the American West.' In the western U.S. states, including California, those effects most probably include drought, heat waves and longer fire seasons with more intense wildfires, climate scientists said. 'As the globe has warmed thus far, the western U.S. has warmed as well, but without increases in precipitation that compensate for the drought- and wildfire-promoting effects of warming,' UCLA professor Park Williams said. Last year, Williams examined 1,200 years of geological records and found that the previous 25 years were probably the driest quarter of a century since the year 800. He sees no reason why that trend won't continue. 'Given that there is not even a whiff of a hint that our global greenhouse gas emissions are going to slow in the next few years, then it appears virtually certain that the globally averaged temperature will continue to set new records every few years or so, just as it's done over the past four to five decades,' Williams said. The projections in the U.N. report are based on more than 200 forecasting models run by scientists at 14 research institutes around the globe, including two managed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report found an 80% chance that at least one year in the 2025 to 2029 period will surpass 2024 as the warmest year on record, and an 86% chance that at least one of those years will exceed the 2.7 degrees warming target. It estimated a 70% likelihood that average warming over that period will be more than 2.7 degrees, though total warming averaged over 20 years — the Paris Agreement standard — will probably remain below that threshold. 'Unfortunately, this WMO report provides no sign of respite over the coming years, and this means that there will be a growing negative impact on our economies, our daily lives, our ecosystems and our planet,' Ko Barrett, deputy secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, said in a statement. The consequences of warming will probably vary widely across the world, the report found: rapid thawing of Arctic sea ice, drier seasons in the Amazon, excess rain in places such as Alaska, northern Europe and the Sahel in north-central Africa. Hotter temperatures are more effective at evaporating water out of plants and soil, leading to droughts and failed crop seasons. At the same time, a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which increases the chance of flood-inducing downpours and hurricanes. Episodes of climate 'whiplash' — rapid swings between wet-to-dry and dry-to-wet conditions — are also growing more frequent and intense because of rising global temperatures. The devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires in January erupted after such a period. Unusually heavy rains in 2023 led to an explosion of new vegetation, which dried out and turned into kindling during an exceptionally dry 2024. The same week that the fires began, government agencies in the U.S. and around the world confirmed that 2024 was the planet's hottest year since recordkeeping began in 1880. It was the 11th consecutive year the record had been set. The U.S. will likely head into this period of climate chaos with a drastically reduced ability to forecast disasters and head off their worst consequences. Rounds of firings have reduced staffing at NOAA, including in the agency's National Weather Service. The Trump administration has proposed a $1.5-billion cut to NOAA's budget in 2026, a 25% reduction from the previous year's spending. Those budget cuts are part of a wider turn away from climate mitigation efforts. The U.S. already had a messy relationship with the Paris Agreement. It withdrew from the international accord just days before President Trump lost his reelection bid in November 2020. The U.S. rejoined when Joe Biden entered the White House in January 2021, but pulled out again when Trump began his second term in January. Trump has gone even further to roll back U.S. climate science this time. The phrases 'climate crisis,' 'clean energy' and 'climate science' are among the prohibited terms that federal funding recipients and employees must reportedly strike from websites, reports, regulations and other communications. In April, the administration dismissed more than 400 scientists and other experts who started writing the latest National Climate Assessment report, a congressionally mandated assessment of the latest climate change science and mitigation progress. Meanwhile, the warming trend continues. And there's no withdrawing from the planetary consequences. 'It's scary. It really is,' Flannigan said. 'A lot of people are ignoring this, or [saying] 'it won't be in my backyard.' But it's going to be in just about everyone's backyard soon.'
CBC
27-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Workers 'better be worried' about AI taking their jobs, TRU prof says
As more tech companies create generative AI advancements, there are concerns that many humans could lose their jobs. Vivek Kumar, a computer science professor at Thompson Rivers University, said it's imperative that people brush up on their "soft skills" like collaboration and creativity in the years to come.
