KNOWLEDGE CENTER
CRi White Paper
We're used to seeing internet outages in extreme weather, but the problem is accelerating with the onslaught of climate change. Barring a solution, the toll to public safety, healthcare, business and national security will be devastating. Nonetheless, for reasons we explain, business leaders, policy makers, the public—even civil engineers—are completely unaware.
Accordingly, we accept weather-related internet blackouts as "Acts of God", consigning lives and fortunes to outdated disaster recovery modes, wholly inadequate in the Digital Age, where data underlies *all* our infrastructure. Fortunately, there's a solution and it needs to top the list of resilience initiatives, because no business or government enterprise is resilient without data.
For more, read: "A New Paradigm for Resilient Internet Infrastructure"
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White Paper on Microgrids & Resilient Internet
Microgrids are the future for resilient, sustainable energy, but if you're planning a microgrid installation, don't forget your greatest use case. Data!
Our internet infrastructure is just as vulnerable to weather as the electric grid; more so, in fact. And just as microgrids provide independent, long term energy, Certified CRi does the same for internet access, and never more effectively than in combination with a microgrid.
This paper talks about the essential synergy of resilient energy and data in ways never before addressed. Saving mission critical data is the ultimate purpose for a microgrid, and moreover, integration is seamless, the system is maintenance-free and it improves ROI like nothing else.
For more, read: "Microgrids Find Their Business Case with Climate Resilient Internet."
Lights Out: Climate Change Risk to Internet Infrastructure
Here is the seminal white paper on internet vulnerability to climate change, published in 2018 by Professor Paul Barford of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. You won't find a better study of the matter, however its singular focus on sea level rise overlooks a more urgent problem—also a manifestation of climate change—and that's extreme weather.
While the impact of sea level rise is protracted across decades, extreme weather is with us now and it's already contributed to a 300% rise in internet outages this decade over last. Still, according to Professor Barford, "4,067 miles of fiber conduit will be under water and 1,100 nodes will be surrounded by water in just the next 15 years".
For more, read: "Lights Out: Climate Change Risk to Internet Infrastructure"
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Sci Am: Wireless Tech Could Help Climate-Proof the Internet
Scientific American wrote the first story on the computer, and so we were delighted that our initiative was recognized by that esteemed publication, now in its 175th year.
Author, Daniel Cusick, wrote a comprehensive story, interviewing key sources. His piece begins, "Internet interruptions caused by extreme weather events sap billions of dollars annually from the global economy and can interfere with the delivery of essential data and services by governments, utilities and first responders. A Boston-based startup is trying to address that problem by applying climate resilience and adaptation principles to the internet, which experts say is vulnerable to climate change." Published July 3, 2020.
For more, read: "Wireless Technology Could Help Climate-Proof the Internet."
Medium: Climate-Proof Internet is Here
In this article, we talk about the every day criticality of the internet and its inherent and growing vulnerability to weather. It's a problem even civil engineers haven't recognized, though data underlies all our critical infrastructure from public health to energy and transportation.
As weather intensifies, we find ourselves too reliant on big telco carriers, who because of their vast footprints, are less able to keep their networks up in a storm than you are. It's the same as with the electric grid. Utility companies can't prevent poles, trees and wires from falling, however you know that you can invest in a power generator. Our proposition is the same, only it applies to data.
For more, read: "Climate-Proof Internet is Here and Critical Infrastructure Can't Live Without It"
