Data Centers Have a Community Engagement Problem

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1. 

   E71 · 8 Oct 2026 · 20 min

   The Era of Nuclear-Powered Data Centers Is Approaching

   Demand for nuclear power within the digital infrastructure industry is so great that the director of America's most important nuclear research complex has to remind people that he doesn't actually sell reactors. Cool Vector's David Snow caught up with Brian Smith, Chief Technology Officer of Nuclear Science and Technology at Idaho National Laboratory, at the recent Yotta conference in Las Vegas. Smith described exciting advances specifically in small modular reactors (SMRs) that will transform the way data centers are powered. In the meantime, Smith says interest in nuclear remains high,…

2. 

   E70 · 29 Sep 2026 · 36 min

   How to Build Two Gigawatts in West Texas

   A planned two-gigawatt data center campus in West Texas will rely on behind-the-meter generation powered by abundant local natural gas, according to the CEOs of PowerBridge and Liberty Energy, the two companies partnering on the project. In an extensive interview with Cool Vector, Alex Hernandez, CEO of PowerBridge, and Ron Gusek, CEO of Liberty Energy, explained the scope of the project and the natural advantages that West Texas enjoys as a location for digital infrastructure, including pre-existing energy infrastructure, "produced" fracking water and a relatively sparse population.…

3. 

   E69 · 28 Sep 2026 · 16 min

   PTC and Nomad Futurist Unite for Golf and Next-Gen Development

   A two-day charity golf tournament - the Nomad Ho'ohui Invitational - will now kick off the annual Pacific Telecommunications Council, according to Brian Moon, CEO of PTC, and Nabeel Mahmood, co-founder of the non-profit Nomad Futurist Foundation. The Nomad Ho'ohui, an invitation-only Ryder Cup-style matched play competition, will take place January 15 and 16 at the Kapolei Golf Club, blending industry networking with a mission to grow the next generation of digital infrastructure talent. The golf tournament collaboration between Nomad Futurist and PTC grew out of a shared mission: advancing…

4. 

   E67 · 10 Sep 2026 · 23 min

   What Might 'Throw a Wrench' Into Data Center Financings?

   A boom in off-balance-sheet data center development is made possible by the good credit of hyperscaler customers, says Harold Chen, Senior Director in Fitch's Complex Credit Group. In a conversation with Cool Vector, Chen says he expects courts to enforce the guarantees made to these special-purpose vehicles, and to their underlying bondholders, should hyperscalers find it necessary to walk away from data center lease agreements. Chen joins Hadassa Lutz, a partner at Cloud2Ground and host David Snow to explain how these partnership structures are designed to isolate projects and protect…

5. 

   E66 · 25 Aug 2026 · 1 min

   The 'Big Game Changers' for Data Center MEP Engineers

   The growing implementation of liquid cooling technologies is forcing data center MEP engineers to rethink their fundamental design assumptions, says Chris Sutton, founder of Sutton Engineering which specializes in data center design. Sutton tells Cool Vector that, while the electrical side of data center infrastructure reached a level of maturity some time ago, the mechanical side is now in the middle of a significant transformation, and keeping up with that transformation comes down to having a team of skilled engineers. Sutton Engineering's biggest focus right now is building a training…

6. 

   E65 · 4 Aug 2026 · 9 min

   Emerging Markets Need More Data Centers

   Emerging and developing markets remain significantly underinvested in digital infrastructure, says Obinna Isiadinso, the global sector lead for data centers and cloud services investments at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). "India today has something like 1.7 gigawatts of capacity, compared to Northern Virginia that has 3 or 4 gigawatts," Isiadinso tells Cool Vector, citing the country as an example of an emerging market facing a compute constraint. Isiadinso, whose team has invested in data centers since 2005 and now holds roughly $400 million in the sector out of a broader $3…

7. 

   E62 · 30 Jul 2026 · 11 min

   Oracle’s Director of Construction Says Building Data Centers is Like Building Cities

   Building AI infrastructure at gigawatt scale means "developing city-sized machines,'" says Craig Deering, senior construction manager at Oracle. Drawing on decades of experience — from dismantling AT&T and building the Baby Bells to leading cloud and now AI data center projects — Deering tells Cool Vector: "The challenges of developing a city-sized machine have been known for at least a century. We just need to realize that we're building at that scale." Deering shares his outlook on the economics of AI compute, the human toll of building at unprecedented speed, and why he remains bullish on…

8. 

   E64 · 27 Jul 2026 · 5 min

   Solutions for the Data Center ‘Power Bottleneck’

   Data centers have access to plenty of power, but it's often stranded rather than put to use, says Ken Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of Bay Compute. "Power is the bottleneck to AI growth," Sullivan says. "A lot of the 'colos' and data centers are operating at 30, 40, 50% average power utilization." Sullivan lays out how the shift toward AI inference is intensifying the power problem, why colocation operators are now being forced to optimize infrastructure they've never had to think about before, and why he believes the industry's component-by-component fixes are hitting diminishing returns.…