One More For The Road

[{"type":"text","text":"Why I choose the couch, remote, and a box of cookies…."}]

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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>🚧 One More For The Road: Saturday, February 28, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Why I choose the couch, remote, and a box of cookies….

One More For The Road: Saturday, February 28, 2026

 Why I choose the couch, remote, and a box of cookies….

Sponsored

 today announced the launch of Build Wyoming, an initiative that puts Wyoming’s workforce at the forefront of building America’s next generation of AI infrastructure. This campaign is about more than technology, it’s about jobs, community, and the enduring strength of Wyoming’s workforce.  

 is rooted in Wyoming’s long tradition of hard work, self-reliance, and accountability. The campaign emphasizes the central role of electricians, welders, pipefitters, operators, technicians, and other skilled trades in constructing the large-scale infrastructure that powers modern technology. 

Prometheus Hyperscale is developing scalable, next-generation liquid-cooled digital infrastructure for the age of AI starting in Wyoming with two sites: one in Uinta County and a second outside of Casper. The Uinta County project is located on a ranch held by the family of Prometheus’ Founder and CEO, Trenton Thornock, for six generations. With deep, multi-generational ties, investing in the future of local communities and the state of Wyoming is a top priority. 

“Artificial intelligence isn’t just invented in labs — it’s built in the real world,” said Trevor Neilson, President of Prometheus Hyperscale. “Build Wyoming is about making sure that this next generation of critical national infrastructure is built by Wyoming workers, here in Wyoming, creating thousands of high-quality jobs and long-term career pathways for families across the state.” 

Build Wyoming is driven not only by economic opportunity, but by the growing national security importance of where and how advanced computing infrastructure is built.  

“Wyoming has always helped power America — and now it has a chance to help secure its technological future,” said Trenton Thornock, Founder and CEO of Prometheus Hyperscale. “By building advanced data center infrastructure here at home, we’re creating high-paying jobs for Wyoming workers and ensuring that critical AI systems are built securely, domestically, and responsibly.” 

At the core of Build Wyoming is a firm commitment to local opportunity. Wyoming residents will be prioritized for all jobs associated with Build Wyoming projects, from the initial construction and specialized trades to long-term operations and maintenance. Prometheus Hyperscale has already invested in helping create local vocational and workforce training programs specifically focused on data center and digital infrastructure jobs, ensuring local residents are prepared for skilled, high paying careers tied directly to these projects. Build Wyoming also prioritizes Wyoming-based contractors, suppliers, and service providers, to keep economic value within local communities. 

To maintain the trust of the communities where we work, Build Wyoming will provide independent economic impact studies and public reporting on actual employment numbers, resident work hours, and local spending.  

[{"type":"text","text":"About Build Wyoming "}]

Build Wyoming is a statewide campaign led by Prometheus Hyperscale to position Wyoming as a builder of critical national infrastructure for the artificial intelligence era. The initiative is dedicated to positioning Wyoming as the premier builder of critical AI infrastructure through job creation, local business support, and honest community engagement. To learn more, visit 

Prometheus hyperscale

<title>🚧 Prometheus Hyperscale Launches "Build Wyoming" Initiative to Create Local Job Opportunities and… | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Statewide campaign focuses on ensuring the next generation of critical national infrastructure is built by Wyoming workers for the benefit of Wyoming Communities.

Prometheus Hyperscale Launches "Build Wyoming" Initiative to  Create Local Job Opportunities and Establish the State as a  Leader Building America’s AI Future Infrastructure Development

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Pat Maio

Energy

Green

Airloom Energy Inc., a Laramie, Wyoming-based wind energy startup, is raising $12.7 million to promote its novel design of wind energy loops that operate horizontally and low to the ground instead of the giant turbines that dot the Cowboy State’s landscape.

The innovative design could eventually produce hundreds of megawatts of power at a fraction of the cost and footprint of traditional horizontal axis wind turbines with three blades.

The traditional wind turbines are hulking structures half the size of the Eiffel Tower that dot the landscape in southern and central Wyoming. 

Paperwork recently filed by Airloom Energy with federal securities regulators does not identify the names of 21 investors involved in the project.

In 2020, Airloom Energy caught the attention of billionaire investor Bill Gates and his well-heeled Breakthrough Energy Ventures in Kirkland, Washington, which began contributing along with Lowercarbon Capital in Jackson, Wyoming, and others about $4 million in seed money.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming energy projects aren’t foreign to Gates."}]

He also is an investor in the small nuclear reactor company TerraPower, which is building a plant in Kemmerer in southeastern Wyoming. 

The $4 million seed money helped enable Airloom Energy to successfully test its novel idea in Pine Bluffs, and with the U.S. Department of Defense in Paso Robles, California. 

The military wants to produce electricity in “forward deployed” areas of a battleground and sees the Airloom Energy concept as having potential.

In February, Airloom Energy told Cowboy State Daily that it was 

 and other venture capitalists to fund millions of dollars more for the company’s next stage of growth. 

This year, it plans to begin construction on a larger pilot project in Wyoming that generates up to 1 megawatt of power outside of its Laramie headquarters near the airport.

Airloom Energy has a novel approach to power generation with its wind project. 

It operates kind of like what the company describes as a “flying shuttle loom” where independent wings travel back and forth over a repeating pattern, like a shuttle or (weaving shuttlecock) on a flying loom. 

Instead of a tall turbine with huge blades, this concept has a series of vertical blades low to the ground that rotate horizontally around an oval.

In practice, the blades travel along a cable in a track atop a series of 82-foot-long poles arranged in an oval, intercepting the wind as it travels down both the home and the backstretch of the cable’s track. As the blades come around, the power they generate is siphoned off to the grid.

Robert Lumley, the company’s founder, got the idea for the wind energy concept after grabbing a stein of beer at a bar in Berlin, Germany. 

That’s when the light bulb went off for the avid kiteboarding enthusiast.

While drinking, Lumley took out a book from his holding bag labeled “Airborne Wind Energy” that he got at a conference while in Berlin.

He then scribbled on the back cover a novel idea for a business proposal. 

Earlier this year, Lumley told Cowboy State Daily that the early drawing depicted what eventually became the centerpiece of his business at Airloom Energy.

Lumley thinks he has the right person to run Airloom Energy in CEO Neal Rickner, a former F-18 fighter pilot who served from 1996-2009.

Rickner, who joined AirLoom Energy in November 2023, was previously with Google X before Google parent Alphabet refocused resources elsewhere. He held the post of chief operating officer with Google X’s Makani Technologies, which developed airborne wind turbines.

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<title>🚧 Bill Gates-Backed Wyoming Wind Energy Startup Raising Nearly $13 Million | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Airloom Energy Inc., a Laramie-based wind energy startup with ties to Bill Gates, is raising nearly $13 million to promote its novel design of wind energy loops that operate horizontally and low to the ground instead of the giant turbines that dot Wyoming's landscape.

One More For The Road: Saturday, February 28, 2026

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