Author: GW Alger

Fiber connections provide users with very fast, reliable internet. But, only 43% of U.S. households have access to a fiber internet connection. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that passed in November 2021 promises to bridge this digital divide, with $65 billion dedicated to expanding access to broadband internet to all Americans. Such government support, along with a number of other factors, have caused a spike in the demand for fiber products. CNBC visited Corning, the world’s largest manufacturer of optical fiber and North America’s largest producer of fiber optic cables to understand the technology behind fiber-optic internet and how the market for fiber products is changing. Fiber-based networks make up the majority of the internet’s backbone. Fiber-optic subsea cables spanning thousands of miles connect continents together, exchanging data at nearly the speed of light. Meanwhile, the massive data centers that host all of our cloud-based applications also rely on fiber connections. Increasingly, these fiber connections are making their way directly into peoples’ homes, providing them with fast, reliable internet. But, only 43% of U.S. households have access to a fiber internet connection. “In some instances, particularly in rural areas and very challenging geographies, it can be prohibitively expensive to to deploy fiber and it can be very expensive for households to pay for it,” says Julija Jurkevic, a senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Water is truly a precious commodity, and water scarcity is reaching critical levels in many parts of the world. There are now over one billion people who do not have access to clean water. The world’s demand for water is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years because of population growth, energy shortage, and pollution problems. However, a new breakthrough has been made that will vastly improve the quality and availability of potable drinking water. Grab a drink and relax as we show you this innovative discovery that makes water desalination obsolete.

Desalination is the process of producing drinking water by removing dissolved mineral salts in water. It’s a method that has been used for hundreds of years and has also attracted considerable investment over the past decade or so. But as many of us know now, it’s not all that reliable and it also poses a threat to our environment. Although the earth is made of 70% water, it appears that many countries all over the world experience water shortage – every year. In the absence of water, death is inescapable both in plants and animals. Tons of our daily activities take water as a chief resource. Farmers need water to grow plants; animals and humans need water to drink. Imagining a world without water would mean a place of desolation. Presently, the amount of clean water in the world is reducing and the cause is the spike in population growth. Current figures prove that 1.1 billion people lack access to water while 2.7 billion people lack water for one month a year, at least. World wildlife projects that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will be hit and affected by water shortages. With these threatening issues, safer and quicker means of extracting water from the air are, in no doubt, expedient. Agricultural processes consume 70-80% of available water supplies as well as leakages and mismanagement of water resources. However, it is estimated that the Earth’s atmosphere holds 12 900km³ at any given time. That is an insane amount of water that is three times the amount that humans consume annually!